


The Moon Eyes and The Moon Smile

by eyefornana



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Established Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin, Hogwarts, Hufflepuff Lee Jeno, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Slytherin Na Jaemin, Vampire Jeno, Veela Jaemin, half-Vampire Jeno, half-Veela Jaemin, veelaxvampire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:48:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 44,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26514712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eyefornana/pseuds/eyefornana
Summary: Welcome to Hogwarts! Its the place where magic happens. Whether you are a muggle, a witch, or even a vampire and veela, you are ready to start your adventure in the magical world now. You're about to embark on your own journey and you know Hogwarts won't let you down.ButOh oh! Is that THE Jeno Lee and THE Jaemin Na?
Relationships: Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Comments: 35
Kudos: 140





	1. curious and curiouser

**Author's Note:**

> The events in this story are not in chronological order.

You're in your first year at Hogwarts.

_You could imagine how it would like._

Four long tables lined up to greet you in the Great Hall, necks poking curiously, and the waving of the emblems of each dormitory beckoning you. Then the hat screams your name, says you entered one of the dorms of your dreams. Then you'll meet new friends, the prefect who welcomes you, and the flying silvery dormitory ghosts.

You will sleep with a smile on your face. And so on until after one week to one month, you feel that there is nothing to amaze you anymore (you have started memorizing the strange nature of stairs, dancing paintings, to spells that don't just need to be pronounced). Besides, well, quidditch selection.

You're a Hogwarts student after all.

_Follow the habit, and understand it._

And you notice it somehow when most of the senior students turned their heads towards the entrance of the Great Hall at breakfast, clearly anticipating something. Every morning. And when you are brave enough to stand up, you understand why all the students do it and start getting caught up in the habit. Too.

Because you're looking at magic. As a (aspiring) wizards, you know what you see is a _real_ _magic_ to begin with.

First of all, the clinking sounds of cutlery or chatter among the students will fade away, replaced by the sound of footsteps that are now so loud echoing in the Great Hall.

Second, you will be able to see more clearly. Two students holding hands entered the hall. One of them wears yellow on his robe, making him a Hufflepuff student. His hair is straight and baby blonde. His eyes were sharp with a black dot under the corner of his right eye. His nose dived perfectly and his lips were pressed tightly together with his prominent jaw. He looked extraordinarily pale, but _very_ , very charming. Even while wearing that black robe, his sturdy and well-built frame could be seen clearly. But you won't dare to approach him.

That just thing that only the person next to him could do. The man was no less handsome. His eyes were large and it was as if everyone could see his eyelashes from the end of the hall. The nose line is also high, looks beautiful combined with thin pink lips. His hair is ash blonde with a slight shade of blue in front of his forehead; flawlessly framing his face. His black robe was decorated with green, which indicated that he was part of the Slytherin house. _Oh_ , of course, because that kid not only pulls you, but he entangles you, knocks you down, and happily laughs at you. He was whispering something to the man beside him, but all you can hear and understand is how you wish him to go slower, to spend time by the lake with him just expecting him whispering to you. Obviously the kid is Slytherin because you can imagine him rejecting you outright, insulting you, and you still adore him. Of course it's magic if it can make you–who are always hungry–to stop eating the dessert just to see him longer. _Much longer_ , please.

Third, they sat side by side at the same table; its either Hufflepuff's or Ravenclaw's, clearly ignoring all the glances that were directed at them. Slowly, the voices returned to the hall. But you and your friends were awakened by the stifled cries of one of your seniors, “shit. They did _that_ again."

"Always," you could hear several people answering simultaneously.

Next, you and almost all of your first-grader friends will ask, “who? Who are they?"

One or two people will sigh under their breath. Several girls giggled. Only one can look you straight in the eye and say, "that's, my friend, are Jeno Lee and Jaemin Na."

You can't forget it. Although it is useless because the name will not be forgotten; became a part of your habit at Hogwarts (you will _always_ looked at them whenever they were around), and you know Hogwarts has always been a part of you.

So now, remember it clearly.

Lee _fucking_ Jeno. And Na _fucking_ Jaemin.

-

"Love, you need to eat."

"I'm not hungry. Professor Jung will test our new potions this very morning."

“Don't lie, Lee. You just don't want to throw up because you knew Mat Hutington's potions gonna be sucks." Huang Renjun replied without looking up from the Daily Prophet he was reading. He is a Ravenclaw and surely the smartest student in their year. This year he returned not only as a brilliant student, but also as one of most wanted boys with his mullet haircut and round glasses. Irresistible.

But everyone guessed that he was hanging out with the Slytherin boy so much that his tongue grew sharper over time.

"Is that so, Jeno?"

"Yeah. Professor Jung didn't let me partner up with Renjun."

This time there was a sound of plates being shifted, and Zhong Chenle's cheerful face appeared. He is a fifth year student from Ravenclaw, one year below Jaemin, Jeno, and Renjun.

“Of course. If you partner up with Renjun, both of you will take over the class. You guys are like prodigy." Chenle grabbed the toast on Jeno's plate and ate it. Even though he still has half the porridge, he won't waste the opportunity to grab whatever Jaemin makes. Anything Jaemin makes became many times better.

"Damn it, Nana. What did you put here?" Chenle looked at the bread in amazement. 'Nana' is Jaemin's nickname from his closest people like his family, best friend, and boyfriend.

"I just mix the strawberry jam with some fla here."

"Is it that good?" even Renjun glanced over his Daily Prophet. Chenle fed the bread to Renjun who took a bite. A few seconds later, he looked at Jaemin, “make me one, please. I have to taste Richard Yu potions. _IF_ I throw up, at least I had something good after."

“I'll make you one too, Jen. Alright?" Jaemin grabbed some bread from the silver tray and started to spread jam on it.

Jeno gave him a soft look. _What did I do to deserve you, Nana?_ Until now, Lee Jeno didn't know what made Na Jaemin loves him so much. Jaemin can do anything to everyone because he has _that_ magic, but that guy seems happy with Jeno. Although sometimes on super busy days, Jaemin could only see Jeno–who struggling to divides his time between classes, assignments, quidditch practice, being an assistant in the Potion class, his friends and dormitory–at lunch.

"Here." Jeno's reverie was interrupted by Jaemin's voice. Jaemin is already smiling broadly, showing off his perfectly lined teeth and pink cheeks. Jeno's eyes then turned to the bread wrapped in a yellow handkerchief with 'J' embroidery on it.

"Here, Renjun." Jaemin gave another to Renjun.

"Uh-hum."

"Nana," called Jeno. Jaemin slowly slipped his hand between Jeno's fingers.

"Yes, love?"

Jeno leaned forward until his chest met Jaemin's shoulder, then kissed Jaemin's temple. He whispered, "I love you" before stepping back and thanked him.

Jaemin giggled at that. "I know, Jen. I love you too."

“You guys are so whipped even after two freaking years. Disgusting. But I love it,” Chenle shook his head.

Even when blushing, Lee Jeno's face remained colorless. But Jaemin didn't hold back his expression and laughed happily.

“Shut it, Chenle. Please mind your Transfiguration task. I can't teach you anymore because apparently, you tend to forget everything I said right after I said it. Please use that big head,” and Renjun snapped.

Best friend indeed.

-

There was never anything unusual once Na Jaemin entered a room. From the heavy door that always creaked when opened, to the ragged brown cloth bag on his shoulder, everything looked extraordinarily attractive. Even with a slightly frowned forehead as his fingers quickly rummaged through the contents of his bag.

"Forgot your book, Jaem?"

Jaemin looked up. “Mark-hyung. Uhm, yeah. I'm sure I put it on my bag earlier. Maybe I dropped that on common room. Can you please notify Professor Suh to excuse me for a second?"

Lee Minhyung, or Mark Lee, shook his head with a smile. “Here. Use mine. Just sit down, Jamie."

"No... I brought your books so many times before"

"So it won't be a problem, then. Here." Mark shoved his book into Jaemin's hands. After all, he wouldn't use it. As a seventh year student, he helped Professor Suh in his Defense Against the Dark Arts class and memorized the contents of the book _After The Dark Arts_ by heart.

"Thank you so much, Markie."

In order to see Jaemin smiling for him and because of him, Mark Lee was willing to empty his entire bookcase.

Johnny Suh, their teacher for DADA, enters the class and nods at Mark, who immediately raises a stick, closes all the curtains and turns on their material for the day. Along with Professor Suh's explanation of nonverbal spells, Mark pretends to read the parchment even though his eyes are actually watching Jaemin who is sitting not far from him.

Whenever he would help Professor Suh teach sixth grader, he always made sure that his black hair was more style than usual, that his breath was fresh, and that his robes weren't folded. Nobody knows, but he did all that just to meet Na Jaemin.

Na Jaemin who has captivated him in the past three years. Na Jaemin to whom, Mark is really helpless. Even though Jaemin doesn't know, Mark keeps all the memories about Jaemin in his head, hoping that they will be enough when he meets a dementor.

-

Mark Lee comes from a family of wizards. Since childhood, he was able to perform accidental magic that made him always look forward to his school days at Hogwarts. His father and mother met while at Hogwarts and from his little family Mark hopes he too will experience the same thing.

 _It will be a very nice girl that always laughs at my jokes and smiles at me everytime._ Yet among the love letters he received even in his first year, Mark found himself too attracted to classes rather than having a lover. He becomes Professor Suh's favorite student and prefers to spend his free time reading the history of evil witches than reading love letters.

Mark Lee never considered this important until his second year. He did not attend the new student admission night and preferred to read until Wong Yukhei or Lucas, his best friend, entered the room hysterically.

“MAN! YOU MISSED THE WHOLE SHOW!"

Mark groaned, fixed his specs over his nose and gave Lucas an annoyed look. Luckily, Lucas quickly opened a pack filled with roasted chicken, bread, apple pie, candy, and a bottle of pumpkin juice.

“Wow, wow. Slow down, Luc. I told you before: I'm not interested to see new students and the ceremony is waaaaay too long. You know, I spent my night to read about the Ministry of Magic. Its interesting, Luc!"

“That's ain't it, man! You know, among the new kids, there is a Veela. A fucking Veela that took our breath away for almost a minute!” Lucas interrupted him.

"Oh," Mark commented briefly, a little surprised. He had read about Veela before. "They go to school too?"

“Apparently, this boy father is half-Veela and his mum is a Veela. So yeah, he's still human. But you NEED to see..."

"Wait, 'boy'?" Mark repeated, raising an eyebrow, his hand that had reached for the roast chicken floating in the air.

"Yeah, man! Boy. The only boy with Veela-blood that I know. Well, I never know any people with Veela-blood before."

Mark chose to ignore Lucas, half listening to how when the boy first entered the gates of the Great Hall, all breaths were caught. Even when his name was called and he was wearing the selection hat, almost everyone stood up to see him. The boy became a member of Slytherin, producing the loudest cheers in the entire Great Hall, causing the Slytherin table to explode and the other tables to growl in envy. Lucas even took the time to sit beside him and get to know the boy.

“Oh, that's why you are so excited. You will approach him, right?" Mark replied. The food was gone and he took a sip of the pumpkin juice.

"Well, you're gonna do the same if you were there, Markie. But maybe no, since you are a coward." Lucas grinned.

"Watch your mouth, Yukhei."

“Anyway, he is so beautiful and you're gonna thank me later. The name is Jaemin Na."

Mark did not care and chose to sleep. Only the next day he saw the source of the commotion. Mark was standing in the common room, waiting for his friends to go to the Great Hall for breakfast. They were going to Transfiguration class after and Mark spent his time leaning against the wall, his tie just draped around his neck with an unbuckled robe in front of his green vest, rereading his notes. Lucas was standing beside him, chatting with Christian Baumbauer about quidditch.

There was a sound of scrambling steps rising from the rooms and the atmosphere of the common room was suddenly quiet.

Mark looked up from the parchment when he heard Lucas clearing his throat.

“Hi, Jaemin. Good sleep?"

He stifled a laugh at Lucas's apparent nervousness, but was silent as his eyes followed everyone's gaze.

"Hello! Good morning. It's a little bit cold here, yeah?"

Lucas didn't exaggerate his description about the boy. Mark stared at the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Na Jaemin has light brown hair that part in the middle. He wore the same uniform as everyone: a white shirt, green vest, green striped tie, black pants, and a black robe. But he was so thrilling. From his face that seemed to glow, so stark contrast to the dark Slytherin common room, to his high voice.

“Is it?! Oh my–why didn't you tell me? I can give you my blanket! Oh, I know the most comfortable bed warmer. I'll give that to you later, alright?"

Mark blinked and turned to look at Lucas. "Hey, hey! That's mine you're talking about!" he said, unconsciously.

This made everyone stare at him. Jaemin blinked at the senior he just saw with curious eyes.

"Hi. Uhm, Mark Lee." He reached out to Jaemin to save himself from embarrassment. There were a few seconds of silence that made Mark nervous for no apparent reason. In fact, he seemed to be able to hear the sound of Lucas's glancing eyes.

_Impossible._

Slowly his hands warmed. “Na Jaemin. Nice to meet you, hyung. Lets be friend, alright?" Na Jaemin's eyes narrowed, presenting his sweetest smile for Mark.

After two months of seeing Jaemin around, Mark found out that it was never been 'she'.

-

After DADA class, Mark waited for Jaemin outside the classroom.

“Thank you so much, Mark. You left a lot of notes in your book. It helped!” Jaemin hissed, holding out Mark's book happily.

"You can keep it, Jaem."

“No! You're gonna need it for N.E.W.T."

“I already memorize everything and I had more notes. You can keep it for a while, make sure that you remember all of the notes. Nonverbal spells is surely one of the hardest thing. Why'd you forget your book, Jamie?"

“I woke up late, Markie. In a rush, if I might add, because Jeno is always waiting for me at exact time outside the Great Hall, y'know?"

One punch. Elbow up. Mark was too trained to even be annoyed by the fact that Jaemin loved Lee Jeno. He smiled a little. “You know you can't do that, Jamie. You can't loose focus anymore. I'm gonna graduate next year."

“I know! I'm helpless. What am I gonna do without you?"

 _Breath, Mark_. "But you have me for now."

"Markie."

Mark Lee stopped his words when he realized Jaemin was looking closely at him. He was worried that he would offend Jaemin.

"I'm glad I have you. You are truly my savior."

This time Mark was at a loss for words. He let Jaemin close at a dangerous distance, then pressed his cheek against Mark's cheek for a moment while his hand patted Mark's back gently.

"Bye, Mark." And Jaemin left. Leaving Mark who fell deep. Alone.

It is always like that.

-

"You gotta be kidding me." Chenle gaped, but a moment later he laughed out loud. Jeno snorted and then walk away. Chenle hurriedly follow him while repeating Jeno's story.

“You told me that Renjun-hyung actually got poisoned in Potions class. Professor Jung really made you guinea pigs, huh?" Chenle was still laughing. He had just finished lunch when Jeno told him that Renjun was in the Hospital Wing. That's where the two of them are now heading.

“Whatever. I'm glad Renjun still can make it to the hospital. His hand was blistered. I can heal him, but Professor Jung seems guilty and asked me to take him to Madame Choi."

Chenle shook his head. "Richard Yu is dead."

Jeno gave Chenle a quick glance, but decided not to answer him.

"Hi, Jeno!" they ran into a group of Gryffindor students heading to the Great Hall, looking to have just finished from Herbology class because of their rolled up arms and the muddy hem of their robes. Their prefect, Lee Haechan, a young man with tanned skin, bright orange hair, and always smiling, greeted him cheerfully.

“Haechan. Hi." Jeno nodded and smiled faintly, causing the several girls behind Haechan to squeal in joy.

"Lunch?" Haechan slowed down his steps until he completely stopped, letting the rest of the Gryffindors walks pass them.

"No. I had to visit Renjun in the Hospital Wing."

"Oh, crap. I heard that. Richard Yu blew his potions, huh?" Haechan asked sympathetically.

"He added to much wormwood, so yeah..."

“I hope Renjun get well soon. But you had that too, right?"

"Me? No… Mr. Hutington just add some unnecessary ingredients. Its just minor burns,” Jeno raised his right hand spontaneously. Haechan's eyebrows dropped at the sight.

“You know you can call him Mat, right, Jen? He's overwhelmed to work with you."

"Is that so?"

Haechan nodded confidently. "You're gonna treat that, right?" he pointed at Jeno's hand. "Can I see?"

Jeno pulled off his robe, revealing burn marks around his hands from the explosion of Mat Hutington's potions.

"Oh, no," Haechan sighed.

“Its okay. Madame Choi will heal it in a second."

"Well, she has to. You'll have quidditch soon, right? Hufflepuff would not want their best chaser to miss training." Haechan smiled.

Jeno just nodded at him, a little bit flustered. "Thank you. See you."

"Uh-huh, Nana will be furious to see that." As soon as they moved away from Haechan, Chenle chirping in.

"What?"

“You did know he was trying to flirt with you, right? I mean, he likes you."

"Who?"

"Lee Haechan."

“Don't be stupid, Chenle. He's just a friend."

"Yeah. A friend who saw all of your practices and matches, bought you cakes and candies from Hogsmeade, sent you letters regularly; with gifts not just in Christmas and your birthday, say hi everytime he sees you, completely worry everytime you got ‘sick’…”

Chenle was too smart and Jeno was afraid that what Chenle said was correct. Lee Haechan is one of his very limited amount of friends. He is too cold and nervous to have extensive associations while Lee Haechan is a magnet; he was friends with everyone and was known as a friendly student. Jeno doesn't want to lose Haechan as a friend.

“Trust me, he's a very good people. A very nice friend," He repeated to reassure himself and Chenle knew this.

“Anything that suits you. If you want to keep it secret, please be good at it."

They arrived at the door of the hospital. As soon as he pushed the door open, he could see that Renjun was lying on the bed but still speaking furiously. Next to him, sat Jaemin who was holding his hand.

“…I fucking knew it. The smoke from the cauldron was purple. I was ready to scold him when the cauldron exploded in front of me. I expected Professor Jung to deduct the points of his house, but considering Jeno struggled to read _Potion: In Advance_ to get 20 points, of course I couldn't..."

-

Lee Haechan thought about giving the gift now.

Actually he had already prepared the gift for later, after Lee Jeno finished his first match. But when he heard about the chaos in the Potion class this morning, he couldn't help but give Lee Jeno something. Hogsmeade visit is not gonna happen soon so he has almost nothing to give. Unless that one thing. He opened the top drawer and took out the innermost box there.

He made sure the room was empty before opening the box. This time you can see the upholstery box and the objects inside. A pin with a black stone that looks elegant. Haechan bought it from his last visit at Hogsmeade. He imagined Jeno wearing the pin on his robe. That pin is no ordinary pin. It can change color according to the weather forecast that day. A pin worthy of a quidditch player, especially a reliable one like Lee Jeno.

Smiling, Haechan closed the velvet box. Quickly he grabbed the small parchment and a pen. He wrote a message for Jeno which he would tie to the small box. After that, he tied the two of them to the leg of his owl, Moo. He flew the bird through the window in the direction its clearly memorized, just as the bedroom door swung open.

"What are you doing, Hyuck?" Liu Yangyang, his friend, entered and landed himself on the bed. He ignored Haechan's disapproving look at his muddy boots. "I'll clean it later, alright? I just played quidditch with some of Huffie and their chaser actually grabbed a quaffle from my hands and almost knock me out."

"Aw, did you fall?"

Yangyang looked at Haechan, frowning. "Of course you're defending that Hufflepuff vampire!"

"Hey!" suddenly Haechan looked angry. His face was getting redder and he looked hurt. "Watch your mouth."

"S-sorry." Yangyang found himself slacking off, obviously offending Haechan.

“Yang, we've talked about this. Its not fair to bring Jeno's grandfather when we talk about him. He's nice, alright? That's unnecessary and rude."

Yangyang sighed before responding. “Sorry, okay? I'm mad at myself too. He's not the one who actually beat that bludger to my broom. In fact, he worried about me. But, do you think you're the one who exaggerating right now? He has a boyfriend, Hyuck."

This time Haechan shifted his gaze, busy himself with arranging the books on the table. "I know." Yangyang just stated the fact that he had wanted to avoid with all his might. Of course he knew about Na Jaemin. How couldn't he when Jaemin is always around Lee Jeno.

Haechan sighed. He ignored Yangyang, who left the room to clean himself. He lay down on the bed and closed his eyes. At least for now, he could be himself: Lee Haechan that helplessly, voluntarily, and stupidly fall in love with Lee Jeno. Lee fucking Jeno.

-

Haechan remembers the first time he saw Lee Jeno, he wondered why such a handsome boy always wanted to hide himself from others. Jeno stepped off the Hogwarts Express with a cold gaze, his hands as if hidden into the robe to show how restrained he was. Haechan's nervousness grew and it was difficult to tell whether it was because he would be sorted into the best magic school in the world or because Lee Jeno was walking beside him.

"Never seen magic before, Lee Haechan?" they were waiting for the main gate to open and a child voiced out from the crowd behind Haechan. Haechan turned his head and found a sharp-eyed boy who overheard his conversation on the Hogwarts Express.

"Enjoy it now 'cause you gonna be kick out in a week." The boy continued, looking like he had found his target.

No one made a sound. Everyone looked at Haechan who was blushing in his black robe, starting to regret his wish to become a witch and miss his parents.

"Stop it, Mr. Xiao,” suddenly came a voice from beside Haechan. Haechan stared with his gleamful eyes and noticed that the boy he had been staring at was now looking straight.

"Lee Jeno, you don't need to stoop that low, okay?" the sharp-eyed boy called 'Xiao' replied. "Look at him. I bet he never know about magic before his letter came. We don't need a clueless muggle here. He's definitely not Hermione Granger."

Tears had already gathered in the corners of Haechan's eyes and he could feel his hands trembling. The air around them thickened and everyone looked their way. Even though Xiao Dejun's words were right, that Haechan had never seen magic before, but this was their first day and Haechan was sure he could learn.

He didn't want to be the cause of a fight, so he hold Lee Jeno's arm because he looked like he was about to hoof towards Xiao Dejun.

“Geez, can't you guys stop? Its our first day."

This time everyone turned towards the light blonde-haired boy who was parting the crowd from behind. Haechan could feel everyone's eyes enlarging at the sight of the boy stepping closer.

 _Magic. I saw magic._ Haechan's heart was pounding even stronger and his mouth fell open as the extraordinarily beautiful boy approached them.

"Jaemin-ah."

Even Xiao Dejun's fierce gaze completely faded away, changing to a friendly greeting. But Na Jaemin ignored it. He looked at Lee Jeno closely.

Lee Jeno shook his head to himself, and turned around while nudging Haechan in the ribs, gesturing to turn back facing forward.

Slowly the attention to them began to fade, although almost everyone still stole a glance at Na Jaemin. Xiao Dejun even raised his chin as Na Jaemin stood beside him.

"T-thank you," Haechan whispered to his savior. "I'm Lee Haechan."

“Xiao Dejun is rude. Stay away from him, okay?" Jeno whispered without turning around. Slowly he leaned back, blocking Haechan's view of Xiao Dejun. Haechan's face flushed and he held herself back to looked at Jeno.

It was only after the new student admissions greeting ended and Haechan was more nervous about waiting for the selection hat to announce Lee Jeno's house than himself. He was fidgeting in Gryffindor table.

_He must be Gryffindor, right? He is brave and kind. Typical hero._

His shoulders sagged and he felt his appetite disappear after hearing the selection hat shouting "Hufflepuff!" after sitting on top of Jeno's head for a while. Lee Jeno didn't smile, nor did he frown. His cold face continued to appear throughout the dinner even though several people talked to him. Even when the Great Hall broken as Na Jaemin came forward.

"Slytherin!"

Of course, Haechan thought when he saw the smirk on Na Jaemin's face. Everyone at the Slytherin table clapped loudly while several people around Haechan groaned in disappointment.

"He's a veela." He heard Liu Yangyang next to him said.

"A what? Who?" Haechan who was busy glancing at Lee Jeno asked.

“Na Jaemin. His father is half-Veela but his mum is a Veela. That's why he is THAT beautiful." Yangyang sighed when he saw Jaemin at his desk, smiling.

"Oh." That was all Haechan's answer. Apart from that the boy is very charming, he has absolutely no interest in Na Jaemin.

He swallowed his food hoping that Lee Jeno would direct his gaze at him. Just once.

-

Its always been Lee Jeno for Haechan.

All of his memories at Hogwarts almost always contain Lee Jeno. The quiet, cold, and genius Lee Jeno. After two weeks at Hogwarts, Haechan had memorized by heart the Lee Jeno's family tree. Apparently, his grandfather was a vampire. A great and old one. This has led to a rumor about how Jeno's father routinely hunts for human blood as he apparently inherited that tendency from his parent. Some parents are even worried about Lee Jeno's presence around their child, but the Principal and all the teachers assure them that Lee Jeno is not what everyone thinks.

Lee Jeno did inherit the physical features of a vampire. His blonde hair, pale face, to his extraordinary agility. He flies well. Not only that, in an instant Lee Jeno and Huang Renjun became the two most prominent people in every class. With all that attention, Lee Jeno seemed to have decided not to attract more people's interest. He seemed to immerse himself in the group of his friends every time he changed classes and never looked up. Huang Renjun was his first friend who accompanied him every breakfast.

"Hi, Jeno."

Lee Jeno looked up to find Haechan's familiar face who was standing not far from him. "Um. Hi."

"Good luck on your quidditch test." Haechan said it in one breath, causing Huang Renjun to look at him too.

"Uh, yeah. Thank you." Jeno gave his faint smile and Haechan ran away from the Great Hall. He was greeted by Yangyang's laughter awaiting him.

"What is that?"

"Shut up, Yang," Haechan hissed with flushed face.

"You're whipped!" and Haechan regrets taught his best friends some of muggle terms.

But Yangyang was right. Haechan learned quidditch even harder than quidditch players. He came to all Hufflepuff matches after Lee Jeno was chosen to be one of the chasers in his third year. From there, he knew Lee Jeno's reflexes very well. Opposing team chasers and keepers always have trouble penetrating their defenses, making the opposing team beaters have to go the extra mile to at least get Lee Jeno's attention off the quaffle and their net.

"Lee Haechan, you need to stop."

This time, Yangyang's voice sounded firm. They were in the Gryffindor common room. Haechan sat by the fire while writing a Christmas greeting letter to Jeno. This seems to be their habit. Before, Haechan dared to send a letter to thank him and he didn't expect when Jeno would really reply. Since then, they regularly send letters.

_thanks. Merry Christmas to you too, Lee Haechan._   
_How is your holiday?_   
_PS: I'm not good at this. Please forgive me before._

It was Jeno's first reply to him and Haechan couldn't be happier. He then tried to say hello every time he met Jeno, trying to chat even though Jeno always looked cold.

This Christmas, Haechan plans to present wool gloves which he thinks will be very suitable for Jeno to wear when they go to Hogsmeade. 

"What?" Haechan didn't bother looking up from the parchment. Yangyang always reminded him of his "unhealthy obsession" with Lee Jeno, but he didn't care. He is quite happy to be one of the few people who are on good terms with Lee Jeno.

Yangyang looked at Haechan sympathetically before saying softly, "he likes Na Jaemin."

"WHAT?!" Haechan looked up, nearly spilled his ink bottle and made several people turn their heads. "That's impossible!" He continued in a muffled voice.

Yangyang sat in front of him. “Sarah Connor and Erica McCandles saw them after Potion class. He asked Na Jaemin to go on a date with him."

"You gotta be kidding me." Haechan felt his throat dry and his brain stop functioning. “He's just tried to be nice. Na Jaemin is stupid, that's why Jeno helped him."

Yangyang shook his head, hoping that this time he could help his friend. He loves Haechan. Haechan is the warmest and kindest person he has ever met. He didn't want Haechan to get hurt knowing this from someone else. The news about Na Jaemin and Lee Jeno, the two most famous people in their year, will certainly spread faster.

"No no," Haechan's voice choked up, as if he was trying to convince himself. Slowly, his smile returned. “Lee Jeno is nice. He's just being nice. I'm sure."

 _Right?_ Haechan said to himself, doubtfully. But there's no way someone as nice as Lee Jeno likes Na Jaemin. Na Jaemin from all people? Na Jaemin is really beautiful. But he had a myriad of devotees and was very proud of it. Lee Jeno will even stay away from people like Na Jaemin.

Haechan continued his letter-writing activities, clearly ignoring Yangyang's sympathetic gaze. He was determined to chat with Jeno more often, even though it meant that he had to find a route so that he could bump into Jeno in the corrider as much as possible. Unfortunately, Jeno seemed to have disappeared for three days. He didn't even see Jeno at the Hufflepuff table during mealtime and all their teachers seemed to ignore Jeno's absence from class. The only thing that can relieve Haechan between the gossip about Jaemin and Jeno is that Xiao Dejun and his friends are still following Jaemin as usual.

 _Show off_ , Haechan thought as he looked away as the Slytherins passed their table. Xiao Dejun seemed to be Jaemin's number one follower. He doesn't even hesitate to block anyone who approaches Jaemin and happily rejects love confessions aimed at Jaemin (even though there is a clear reason behind it). However, his fear became real.

For the first time, Na Jaemin and Lee Jeno entered the Great Hall together for breakfast. The two of them joining their hands, making everyone gasp: between disappointment and amazement. Jeno's face was cold as usual, seemingly trying to brace himself with all the attention that was clearly directed at them. Meanwhile Jaemin smiled faintly, making Haechan want to hit that pretty face.

The two of them did not stop the show by sitting together at the Ravenclaw table, joining Huang Renjun who, as usual, read the Daily Prophet. Jeno seemed to be eating reluctantly, making Jaemin lean in and whisper something. Jeno laughed softly and nodded.

Lee Jeno never laughs. His eyes suddenly narrowed, formed a crescent moon and bared his neat teeth. Haechan's hands clenched into fists realizing that he had never seen such a beautiful laugh before and his irritation grew because Na Jaemin was the cause of the laughter.

Haechan was heartbroken when he found himself falling in love with Lee Jeno again.

-

Haechan is not alone. Half of the castle is also disappointed with Jeno and Jaemin's relationship. Mark Lee was no exception.

He regrets why he didn't take the time to talk more and longer with Na Jaemin. Well, he knew the cause was his heart that seemed unorganized every time he faced the younger. But when he saw Jeno and Jaemin always making out, he felt that he didn't try enough.

“I bet its because Jeno's vampire blood. You know, maybe he kinda not affected that much with Jaemin,” Lucas argued. Jeno and Jaemin just returned from their visit to Hogsmeade. Jeno took off his gloves (in baby blue color: a gift from Haechan who despite his heartbreak couldn't stop himself from sending his present), shook them off to let out snow while Jaemin hugged him from behind, trying to warm himself.

Mark snorted at his food. His face flushed uncontrollably when he realized that he wished to be the one who took Jeno's place, especially having Jaemin hugged him from behind like that. _That ungrateful bitc_ h, Mark thought as he glanced at Jeno's usual expressionless face. On the other hand, he was secretly amazed to see Jeno looking that calm when Jaemin was always by his side.

"Fuck. He's really living the dream," Lucas muttered again. His face also looked cloudy even though Mark knew that he didn't really fall in love with Jaemin. Its just a bare infatuation that caused by Jaemin's Veela-blood.

Zhong Chenle shrieked and walked up to Jaemin and Jeno. Jaemin laughed and gave Chenle a cup of candy from his pocket, making Chenle jump up and down with joy. Jaemin released his hug from Jeno and embraced Chenle, marching into the Great Hall for dinner. Jeno followed behind him.

“Xiaojun! Are you okay with it?" Lucas asked Xiaojun who had just sat in front of them. He was also came back from Hogsmeade, looking handsome with black hair that contrasts with his white sweater.

" _That?_ " Xiaojun repeated, grabbing a plate.

“Jeno and Jaemin. What they did in Hogsmeade?"

"Ah, I saw them kissed," Xiaojun answered calmly.

"I thought you liked him." Mark answered.

Xiaojun stared at Mark for a second, before laughing. "Na Jaemin?"

Mark felt lost as Lucas even gave him a look of concern. "What are you doing, man? You're really not interested in Jaemin, huh? You didn't even know that Xiaojun is his cousin."

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, Mark-hyung. My father is Jaemin's dad brother. We grew up together and I don't like him that way,” Xiaojun explained. “So yeah, Jeno is okay. He passed my screening so that's why they're dating now."

Inwardly, Mark cursed himself because Xiaojun was one of the reasons why he was so careful to approach Jaemin. He always thought that Xiaojun liked Jaemin and Jaemin in a lesser extent would also like Xiaojun because he allowed Xiaojun to be around him almost every day.

At least Mark hopes that Jeno and Jaemin won't last long.

-

Na Jaemin is always a Slytherin.

He knows he is charming and can conquer anyone with it. This made him seem half-hearted in studying. He will only learn when he wants to. At least, this slightly has changed since he became Lee Jeno's boyfriend and became friends with Huang Renjun and Zhong Chenle.

Renjun always said that Jaemin had the qualifications to become an unique wizard because of his Veela blood. But Jaemin didn't want to try hard. This is what Jeno wanted to change. After being in a relationship for some time, Jeno began to routinely invite Jaemin to study together at the library.

"I'd rather make out with you," Jaemin always pouted whenever Jeno forced him to do an assignment.

“After this, Nana. You need to finish your Transfiguration task. Join Chenle. Renjun is teaching him." As usual, Jeno will cheer him on.

So when Na Jaemin's grades improved, he owed a huge debt to Jeno, Renjun, and Chenle. The three of them also played a big role in refining Jaemin's character.

“I'm tired of these confession. Can't they see that Jeno and I are together? Jen, _love_ , do you think we didn't make out enough to push them away?"

Renjun choked while Chenle giggled. They were gathered in the yard, eating candy and reading. This activity is quite rare considering their respective activities. But after a month of compromises, Jaemin managed to force his three friends to enjoy an afternoon outside the castle. However, they are still annoyed by two owls who land a letter and parcel on Jaemin's lap.

"'Na Jaemin, I will always love you', 'you are mesmerizing', 'please don't mind me staring at your beautiful soul every single time I had the chance...'" Jaemin read a few lines from the letter he received.

Renjun and Chenle laughed simultaneously while Jeno held back a smile.

“Wow, 'beautiful soul'. Whoever it is, they definitely don't know you, Jaemin," Renjun said.

“What do you mean? My soul IS beautiful!"

“You actually waited for Mat Hutington in front of Hufflepuff common room and told him to study harder because he burned Jeno's hand. I swear I heard him sobs,” Renjun replied mercilessly.

"Better be after he ruined my boyfriend hands."

"Baby, it's a minor wound and it's completely gone."

“Shut up, Lee Jeno. You know I hate it when you hurt yourself. I did the same thing with Richard Yu, Huang Renjun. Where's your gratitude?"

Renjun rolled his eyes and says playfully, "thank you, my hero."

"Exactly," Jaemin sighed. He leaned his body against Jeno's chest. His hand grasped Jeno's hand, but Jeno withdrew his hand slowly.

"My hands are cold, Nana."

"Don't care." Jaemin tightened his grip. He knew that Jeno's temperature was much lower than the average person. Until now, Jaemin was always moved by Jeno's attitude who tried to warm him up.

"Oh! Its from _that_ side of the castle. Our Gryffindor seeker is bold, huh?" Renjun pointed at the owl which was now approaching their direction. Chenle's face flushed red. Renjun is referring to fifth year Gryffindor Park Jisung, Chenle's crush.

“I already replied to Jisung's letter this morning.”

"Well, he must have liked you so much that he sent you owls on the afternoon."

The brown owl dived low, turning above them before dropping the parcel at Jeno's feet.

"Hm?" Jaemin pulled his eyebrows, confused. Jeno grabbed the box. He looked at the letter tied on top and put the box in his the bag.

"Jen, who is that?" Jaemin got up, looked at Jeno.

 _Uh-huh_ , Renjun and Chenle looked at each other warily. Of course they knew who it was from.

"It must be from Lee Haechan, you know, that prefect from Gryffindor?" Jeno replied calmly.

"Okay," Jaemin tried to remember if there was a special moment where he could understand the correspondence between Haechan and Jeno. "Why don't you open that now?"

"Baby."

“Yeah, Jeno-hyung. Why don't you open the gift now?" Chenle replied. He knew his words only added fuel to the hot atmosphere, but after seeing Haechan and Jeno's previous interactions, he thought Jaemin should know before things got worse.

Jeno looked at Chenle with a look that scared anyone. But this is Chenle. Jaemin, Jeno, and Renjun have practically raised him for the past five years. Chenle no longer gets scared easily and has more or less contracted some aspects of Slytherin from Jaemin.

Slowly, Jeno took out the parcel from his bag. He opened it slowly, a little frightened by Jaemin's suspicious gaze.

"Ooh!" Renjun commented when he saw the contents of the velvet box in Jeno's hand.

"What is that?" Jaemin asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"A stone whose color changes according to the weather and your mood," Renjun happily explained since he was the one who always read The Daily Prophet (and the advertisement inside it).

“Oh, very considerate. He's thinking of Jeno who will soon be practicing quidditch almost every day."

Jaemin clenched his teeth, quickly grabbed the parchment scroll tied to the box wrapper and read it.

"Nana," Jeno called, trying to reach Haechan's letter.

“'I feel bad about your wound but I know you'll heal soon. I hope you don't push yourself too hard during practice. You already won Quidditch Cup two times, _Jen_. Take breaks if you need them. I bought this at Hogsmeade and know that it is a perfect gift for you. Do me a favor not to practice if this stones says it's going to be raining hard, okay?' What the hell, Lee Jeno?" Jaemin read out a piece of Haechan's letter and stopped when Jeno grabbed the letter, quickly shoved it into a bag.

"How did he know..." Renjun muttered.

"Oh, we met him when we're going to hospital to visit you. He saw Jeno-hyung hands and I'm sure he didn't lie: he does feel bad about it,” Chenle answered quickly.

"Zhong Chenle," said Jeno when he realized Chenle's voice was clearly provoking Jaemin.

But too late. Jaemin already closed his mouth tightly. He grabbed his letters that splayed on his lap, burned them, and got up.

"Sorry. Lets just go back to the castle."

"Hm? I thought we were gonna be here until dinner." Renjun, Chenle, and Jeno followed him.

"I don't even want dinner at all." Jaemin stuck his hand into his jacket pocket, clearly avoiding Jeno's hand that was trying to grab his arm, then walked away.

"Chenle, I didn't appreciate it." Jeno gave Chenle one last look before catching up with Jaemin. Renjun and Chenle let the two of them disappear into the castle.

"I think you're somehow would be fit in Slytherin..." Renjun sighed as he looked at Chenle.

-

"Nana. Baby." Jeno managed to hold off Jaemin before they approached Slytherin common room.

“Don't 'baby' me, Lee Jeno. What the hell is that? Why did he sent you that kind of letter?"

"Its nothing, really! He's just a friend of mine." Jeno could see Jaemin's eyes burning and he knew Jaemin wouldn't be easily persuaded. “Na Jaemin, listen to me, okay? We're just friend."

“Friend won't sent that kind of letter and that kind of gift out of nothing, Lee Jeno. Actually, what kind of reply that you sent him before? I never know because you never let me. But I'm really curious now."

"You're doubting me? Come on, Jaemin. Don't be dramatic and trust me, okay?" Jeno's forehead frowned at the accusing tone in Jaemin's voice. "Seriously?"

"Do I look like I'm not serious?"

"Nana. I love you. Only you."

"What kind of gift that you sent him last Christmast, Jen?" Jaemin insisted.

Jeno looked at Jaemin in disbelief. "I can't believe this." One of the problems that often arise in their relationship is that Jeno thinks that Jaemin would always took everything excessively.

"Me too." Jaemin released his hand from Jeno's grasp and stepped away. Jeno has repeatedly explained that Haechan is his friend. Jaemin believes in his boyfriend, but he doesn't trust other people. He doesn't know how Jeno and Haechan are friends because they don't have anything in common. And its bothers him a lot so he would need assurance from his boyfriend. But sometimes (like right now) Jeno just can't give it to him and he still couldn't process how its okay to be that close with another people that have a boyfriend. _Heck,_ Jaemin would never do that.

-

Jaemin did not come at dinner. Xiaojun says his cousin doesn't want to be disturbed. He gave Jeno an encouraging pat on the shoulder before heading for the Slytherin table since he knew that Jaemin could be too much sometimes.

Jeno's languid face was of course caught by Haechan from his table. _Doesn't he like my present?_ Usually Jeno will try to reply to his letter as quickly as possible. Haechan missed Jeno's thanks and how gentle he was in each letter.

He was about to approach Jeno after dinner, but Jeno just disappeared among the crowd of Hufflepuff students. Feeling worried, Haechan decided to look for him, at the same time to avoid Yangyang who began to be suspicious of his behavior.

 _I won't be that crazy,_ Haechan thought as he walked through the Astronomy tower. He was determined to find Jeno in the castle and so he could get himself out of trouble because he knew Yangyang would nag him. But how could he not after seeing Jeno's shoulders drop while eating dinner before. The last time Haechan saw him so sluggish was after he collapsed in a quidditch match against Gryffindor two years ago (leaving Haechan barely congratulating his own house team).

That time, Haechan gave him white chocolate and Jeno smiled at him for the first time. Now he doesn't know the reason for Jeno's sadness, but he wants to comfort Jeno. He tries to open the door to each class, hoping to find Jeno alone because he knew that its Jeno's habit when he feeling sad. And maybe, _maybe_ bring a little happiness for the older.

-

Na Jaemin eased his anxiety by staying quiet in the corner of the library. He is trying to work on the new Alchemy assignments that will be submitted next month, hoping to distract himself from Lee Haechan's letters and gifts.

He flipped the page when a piece of parchment caught his eye.

_I will wait for you in our classroom after dinner. -J_

Jaemin snorted, landing his back on the back of the chair. Jeno always has his ways. Somehow he slipped the message into his book, as if knowing that Jaemin would avoid and choose to do Professor Edmund's assignment.

Jaemin can never be angry with Jeno for too long and Jeno knows that. He cleaned up his table when he realized that dinner time was over. Avoiding the crowd, he took a detour towards the Astronomy Tower, where he kept meeting Jeno in secret.

He pushed open the classroom door, then closed it slowly. Renjun was the one who told them about this classroom. Since he often studied late, even until the library closed, Professor Jung told him a comfortable classroom to study because the moonlight shone directly through the tall windows. That's where Renjun invited his friends to spend time and that's where finally Jaemin and Jeno often took the time to meet.

Jaemin put his bag on the table. There was no sign of Jeno's presence other than–

"Baby."

Jaemin hold himself from cursing. He knew they had been in a relationship for too long so he shouldn't be surprised by Jeno's sudden presence. But Jeno was always adept at hiding the aura of his presence.

Jeno hugged him from behind, resting his chin on Jaemin's shoulder.

"I miss you."

"Hm. You are pretty obvious, Mr. Lee. We just met this evening and you suddenly miss me after we fought?"

"Did we?" Jeno pretended to be surprised.

Jaemin pinched Jeno's hand which was curled around his stomach while Jeno laughed.

"I'm sorry. Okay?" from his voice, Jaemin could tell that Jeno's perfect smile had disappeared. “That's just a friend of mine, Nana. You know I'm not like you. I don't have a lot of friends."

"Don't you dare to blame it on me, Lee Jeno."

“No, its not like that! Right. I just wanna say that I'm sorry and I love you so much."

Jaemin sighed. He knew he loves Jeno too much to let them get mad at each other for a long time.

“Me too, love. I guess I just overreact." Jaemin stroked the back of Jeno's hand on his stomach. "I don't want to fight with you."

"Sorry, baby."

Jeno released his hug, turned Jaemin's body to hug him tighter, buried his face in Jaemin's shoulder while his hand stroked Jaemin's back. He knows Jaemin is very happy with skinship and even though it was awkward at first, Jeno knows that he is also very comfortable and loves to touch Jaemin. Jaemin is the only person who doesn't shudder when they accidentally touch.

"Jeno." Jaemin's hands grabbed Jeno's cheeks, making Jeno tilt his face, kissing Jaemin's palm. _Vanilla and sweets_ , Jeno thinks. He memorized Jaemin's scent, even when he wasn't wearing any perfume. Jaemin looked up and kissed Jeno. Jeno kissed him back eagerly, tightening her hug around Jaemin's waist.

For a few minutes, no sound came out of the two of them as the kiss deepened and their eyes were closed, enjoying the little time that made them immortal. But Jaemin pulled his face when his tongue touched Jeno's pair of canines.

"No, baby," Jeno pursued Jaemin's lips. Jaemin smiled and landed a light kiss on Jeno's lips.

“Love, its been weeks. Come on."

“You didn't have dinner before, Nana. You will be very weak.” Jeno looked at Jaemin gently.

“I ate cake from one of my gifts…” Jaemin's face flushed slightly. Usually he will not touch any gifts given to him. But earlier he had taken the time to eat chocolate cake after it passed Xiaojun's supervision. Well, it wouldn't be his fault if he was in danger when he ate food that laced with amortentia (Jeno and Xiaojun go berserk at that time).

“You shouldn't skip skip dinner, Nana. You really didn't want to see me, huh?" Jeno sighed, his forehead creased in displeasure.

"Love," Jaemin groaned. “Just… do it. I miss you. I want you inside me." Jaemin knew the effect he has on Jeno. He looked at Jeno's eyes which now turned red. Slowly he removed his hand from Jeno's chest, pulled the sleeve of his sweater so that one of his shoulder was exposed.

Jeno held his breath looking at Jaemin's white skin under the moonlight. He caught a very familiar smell and his breathing became heavy.

Jaemin saw Jeno's doubts as clearly as he saw Jeno's jaw that was hardening.

Quickly, Jaemin sat down at a nearby table, grabbing Jeno's robe by the collar so that the boy was standing between his legs. He pulled Jeno's nape, bringing Jeno's face closer to his neck. He swallowed hard as Jeno's warm breath smacked his skin. Seeing this, Jeno's defenses collapsed. He kissed Jaemin's temple, then went down to Jaemin's jaw and neck.

Jaemin muttered softly, stroking Jeno's nape to reassure him as little kisses landed on his neck.

“Easy, baby…” Jeno whispered lowly as Jaemin's legs curled around his waist. He opened his mouth, let his fangs touch Jaemin's skin, making Jaemin's grip tighter.

At times like this, Jeno could only realize the beauty in front of him and how lucky he was when Jaemin loved him as much as he loved Jaemin. He remembers how he always shook his head when he met Jaemin to get rid of all the charm that boy gave him. It took more than two years for Jeno to realize that he lost and would never win against Jaemin because he wanted Jaemin. So much.

Not only his beauty, but also his love and blood. Slowly Jeno stuck his teeth into Jaemin's nape. He heard Jaemin's sigh and when Jaemin's hand squeezed his hair, the iron taste changed to a sweet taste. Jeno squeezed Jaemin's waist, his eyes slowly closed when he realized Jaemin gave himself to him wholeheartedly. Like the first time they did this.

“Go on, love. I'm yours." Even though he was drunk with Jaemin's scent and blood, Jeno could still hear Jaemin's moan. Jaemin pulled his face up high, giving Jeno the full access he wanted. He bit his lip and squeezed Jeno's hair to calm himself down, waiting for the stinging pain to calming down. Its amazing, the feeling of surrendering yourself to somebody who you completely trust. Jeno was not just _somebody_. He was perfect for Jaemin. Every times they did this, Jaemin could feel the pressure on his bare neck quickly turn into something more magical. More beautiful. No one knows, except Xiaojun, about how it feels like for a Veela to have someone they loved _marked_ them. Jeno didn't know this and Jaemin had been planning on telling him later when they're talk about their future after graduation. He doesn't want to overwhelmed Jeno since its _really_ a big deal for him and his family. He knows since the first time he met Lee Jeno, the older could kill him and he wouldn't hesitate to give it away. 

When he felt Jeno's tongue brush against his skin, Jaemin let out the loudest sigh that night.

-

Night duty is Mark Lee's favorite. As the head of boys prefect, he not only made sure all students obeyed the curfew, but also that the prefects on duty also fulfilled their tasks.

Like tonight.

He had just waved to Hufflepuff prefect, Hendery Wong, after they had briefly chatted on the spiral staircase as he climbed the stairs to the Astronomy Tower. The tower is one of the loneliest corners of Hogwarts, especially at night. Usually he would skip the tower because the only person he met at the tower was Professor Jung. Sometimes accompanied by Huang Renjun.

So he was quite surprised when he saw an unfamiliar figure standing in front of the half-closed classroom door. Mark was about to shout out when he realized it was Lee Haechan, Gryffindor prefect. He was sure that tonight wasn't Haechan's turn to go around, but he decided to get closer.

Haechan seemed oblivious to his presence. He was too focused on what he saw in the room. His eyes were wide and his mouth was open. As they faced each other, Mark could see Haechan's lips trembling. _What..._

He touched Haechan's shoulder, making the boy flinch and almost scream when Mark didn't close his mouth.

Just about to ask, Haechan was already shaking his head quickly and pointing inside the classroom. Mark stared at him confusedly, but followed Haechan's forefinger. He focused his gaze until the shock wave hit him.

In the empty classroom, he saw two people who seemed to be hugging. One of them are turning his back to the door, but Mark could see the exposed back clearly. He took a step closer to the door for a better look and froze when he realized he knew the white sweater that the person was wearing.

 _Jaemin?_ He shuddered when he realized that the person kissing Jaemin's neck was none other than Lee Jeno. He thought they were making out when he saw how Jeno's lips opened against Jaemin's skin, obviously sipping something.

Mark was completely shocked. It was Haechan who realized that their presence was clearly unexpected and he grabbed Mark's arm, quickly leaving the place after half hovering up the stairs until he arrived at the top floor, right in front of Professor Park's office.

"What the fuck is that." This is the first time Haechan heard Mark Lee cursing.

-

It took half an hour for Haechan and Mark to access what they had just seen.

Mark, who was the first to clear his throat, turned his head towards Haechan who was still dumbfounded, staring out the window.

"Uhm, should we... back and... y'know... see them..."

"No," Haechan answered quickly, seems to understand what Mark gonna propose. "We can't tell them that we knew, Mark. We can't."

Mark cleared his throat again, taken aback with the certainty in Haechan voice. "I didn't think that the rumors were true."

When Haechan just looked at him expectantly, he continued, "you know… that Jeno still inherited vampire features from his grandfather.”

"That's rubbish."

"But you saw that by yourself!"

"But he's not like that, Mark." Haechan shook his head. "I am sure. He just..."

"Drinking Jaemin's blood," Mark said dryly.

Haechan sighed. “Lee Jeno is nice. You see, Jaemin doesn't seem to refuse either. Whatever they do, it's consensual."

"I don't know, Haechan-ah." Mark paused for a moment before processing what Haechan said. "You think I should ask Jaemin?"

"And let them know if we knew? No, Mark. I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why you don't really want them to find out that we know? If whatever they are doing is consensual, shouldn't they be able to answer it?”

"Then everyone will find out that Jeno has indeed inherited the features of a vampire like you said?"

There was a real silence following Haechan's high-pitched words.

Mark narrowed his eyes, "Haechan... you..." He might be a little dense, but he's not dumb. He clearly could see the admiration in Haechan eyes every time he mentioned Jeno's name.

Haechan covered his face. "Yes."

"Oh." Mark licked his lips. "I don't know, sorry. I thought it was just a joke." He had heard their friends tease Haechan. And all of that teasing always has to do with a particular Lee Jeno.

“I liked him from the moment I arrived at Hogwarts. I wish I had a chance with him. Even when I found out that he was in a relationship with Na Jaemin. I think with everything that Jaemin has, they won't last long and I can… you know,” Haechan explained in a desperate tone.

Mark sighed before answering, clearly could empathize with Haechan's feeling. "Wow, same with me, then."

"YOU WHAT?"

“I've liked Jaemin for a long time. This is not just a mere crush like the people that have been chasing Jaemin all along. In fact, I did not dare to go after him because I was afraid he would think that I'm not different with those people. I never knew he would end up with Lee Jeno.”

"Oh my god!" Haechan closed his mouth, startled. He never thought that Mark Lee would have a tendency to avoid people that he likes. The prefect Mark Lee, out of all the people.

“You are handsome, smart, and perfect. Well, even for me you're not as perfect as Lee Jeno. But I'm sure no one could reject you, Mark." 

"You think so?" Mark let out a dry laugh, suddenly embarrassed with Haechan's blunt statement. "I'm still trying to get Jaemin's attention, but I realized he really loves Jeno."

"Ouch," Haechan knew he was in the same position.

They fell silent again, seeming to contemplate all the futile efforts they had made to attract their crush. Jeno and Jaemin proved their relationship was more than just fame considerations, outlasting everyone's predictions.

"Glad to know that I'm not alone," Haechan broke the silence when he felt his tears curl. No, he didn't want to cry because of Jeno and Jaemin. Not _anymore_.

"Are you okay?" asked Mark, noticing the change in Haechan's face.

Haechan shook his head. One thing he would never admit to Yangyang is that he was not okay every time he saw Jeno and Jaemin. His heart sank every morning because he would always looked at Jeno and its _impossible_ to looked at him without realizing the beauty beside him. He was already about to spend his final year at Hogwarts and so far, all he remembered was how Jeno never cared for him more than friends.

“Haechan-ah. Its okay. My mission in this past year is to forget my feelings for Jaemin."

Suddenly the consciousness hit Haechan, making him stare at Mark without blinking. He got an _idea_. It might not be brilliant but its shine so brightly in his head and stopped his tears right away.

"Don't." He breathes out.

"What?"

Haechan smiled brilliantly as the idea flashed through his head to his now stomping heart. “Mark, we can do this. I don't want to spend my entire Hogwarts years with miserable feeling. You should do the same. Lets do this, Mark."

“What's ‘this’?”

Haechan swallowed hard before staring Mark right at the beaded eye. “Lets broke them up. They deserve better. We are better."

-

Renjun smiles a little when he saw Jaemin and Jeno entering the hall, all smiley and lovey, as usual. He opened his mouths as Jaemin and Jeno sat in front of him. "All good?"

"Yeah, thanks for good kisses," Jaemin answered cheerfully as he grabbed the bread. Jeno laughed softly and Renjun snorted.

Chenle appeared, hugging Jaemin and Jeno from behind. "Aw, you guys are back."

"Thanks to you, Zhong Chenle," Jeno glanced at him, taking a spoonful of porridge.

Chenle laughed, kissing Jeno and Jaemin's cheeks before sitting down.

"Cunning Slytherin," Renjun sighed.

"I'm not even Slytherin, hyung," Chenle replied.

“I said that to Jaemin. He did a terrific job raising you."

"Hey!" Jaemin pouted and Jeno laughed. He put his arm around Jaemin's shoulder and kissed his temple.

“You survived because of Jeno, Huang Renjun,” Jaemin sneered, resting his head on Jeno's shoulder while Jeno hugged his waist. 

"Ugh, _love_."

"So salty," Chenle glanced from his plate.

"If being in love means being illogical."

"Oh, I forgot we talked to Huang Renjun who doesn't believe in love," said Jaemin.

"Again, Renjun?" Jeno calmly replied.

Renjun snorted before replying, “bold of you to assume I don't believe in love after kept seeing you guys eye-fucked each other every single day. That's disgusting. If it wasn't love, I don't know what is. But like I said, yeah, illogical."

Chenle gave a shrill laugh while Jaemin threw the rag at Renjun. Jeno just shook his head in defeat.

“Oh, come on, I know where Renjun-hyung came from. Jeno-hyung is like _ice_. I can't believe he could say some romantic thing toward you, hyung. I thought he was incapable of anything romantic. So that's must be love, right there."

This time it was Jeno who threw the lap at Chenle.

-


	2. from the first

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeno actually avoid someone as bright and beautiful like Na Jaemin. But eventually, a summer happened and they bound as friend (since Jaemin is anything except annoying), pen-pals (and extremely expressive and full of empathy), and then... a predator and its prey (because he must be delicious, right?)?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the background of Jeno-Jaemin relationship.

Nothing could be more relieving for Jeno when all of his first year exams ended. Although it was expected that he mastered all the subjects brilliantly, everyone held their breath as they waited for their scores to be announced. Finding his name one level below Huang Renjun, Jeno decided they could become friends. Especially since Renjun smiled and shook his hand warmly.

“You were good at Potion. Lets study together next year?" Renjun said for the first time after they repeatedly glanced at each other in class to scramble to answer the teacher's question.

"Uhm... sure."

"See you, Lee." Renjun left.

Jeno was still standing alone on the platform. Their suitcases had already been loaded in as all the students scrambled to board the Hogwarts Express which would take them to London.

Jeno stared at Hogwarts in the distance. Its never been home. Yet. Jeno doesn't have many memories apart from studying in various corners of Hogwarts, avoiding crowds which means avoiding a particular person. Slowly Jeno moved away from the platform. He tried to get one last closer look at Hogwarts before he came home and vacationed at home.

"Jaemin. Come on. He will only talk to you for five minutes. Just it."

Suddenly he heard a voice not far from him. He turned and found on his right side, under a tree, stood Jaemin and Xiaojun. Na Jaemin is always charming, even when he wears a white shirt, washed jeans shorts, and a blue sweater draped around his shoulders. He was almost always with Xiao Dejun, who that day wore a green shirt and white pants. Jeno knew that Jaemin and Xiaojun were certainly more than just friends.

"Not! I don't want to, Xiaojun!"

"Please?" Xiaojun begged. "I can't help it, you know? He gave me the Posh Haughner quidditch card! And he promises to give you as many chocolate frogs as you want!"

" _NO._ "

Xiaojun shook his head, looking annoyed. “You know what, alright then. But he's going to be sitting in our compartment and I hope at least you don't become so arrogant..."

"I'm not going to sit with you," Jaemin snapped.

"What?!" Xiaojun glared, before consciousness hit him and he smiled slyly. "Is that so? Then who will you sit with? I thought no one would sit with you because you always gaining unnecessary attention from everyone even when you were sleeping. Remember what happened to the Ravenclaw prefect over the Christmas holidays? Joviah Clearwater, the head prefect, had to drag him away that time."

Jaemin snorted, realizing that Xiaojun was right. Xiaojun is the only person who can help him to avoid the people who are scrambling to get close to him. Jaemin looked away and looked at Jeno.

 _No, no, no_ , Jeno just blinked before turning away. But a few moments later a pair of hands grabbed his arm.

"Hi. Will you sit with me on the train?" he turned his head to meet Na Jaemin. Jeno looked at Xiaojun who frowned over Jaemin's shoulder.

“Nana…” Xiaojun tried to call Jaemin, clearly avoiding Jeno's gaze.

“Lee Jeno, right? Can I sit with you?"

“Uhm… no,” Jeno slowly removed Jaemin's hand from his arm. His body was very cold for a normal person and he was surprised that Jaemin didn't flinch when he touched him. But still Jaemin touched him and Jeno wasn't happy enough about this.

"Why?" Jaemin pouted. His big eyes looked sad as his brows drooped, making Jeno lick his lips.

"I don't want to interfere in the middle of... other people's relationships."

Furthermore, Jaemin and Xiaojun both stared at him in disbelief. "What?!"

Jeno cleared his throat, regretting that he needed to deal with a pair of people who were both attractive and making him uncomfortable.

“Merlin's beard! Lee Jeno! I tought you know our family well to know that me and Nana… uhm, Jaemin, are cousin!” Xiaojun shook his head.

"Huh?"

"I'm disappointed," Jaemin snorted, his shoulders drooping. “I mean, really? Xiaojun?"

Xiaojun hit Jaemin's shoulder softly.

"Oh, sorry." Jeno realized how stupid he was, but as much as possible he kept his facial expression in front of Jaemin.

"Accepted, if you allow me to sit with you on the Hogwarts Express."

So Jeno spent his time on the Hogwarts Express staring out the window, tilting his head to the right as much as possible to avoid staring at Jaemin who was sitting in front of him, drawing on paper.

“Jeno. You want something?" Jaemin asked as he could hear the sound of the trolley approaching and the crowd around their compartment.

“Yeah,” Jeno was indeed preparing to buy some snacks to take home. He stood up while Jaemin looked at him timidly.

"Uhm... can you... you know, if other people see me..." he raved.

Jeno waited.

“…buy a dozen chocolate frogs? I promised to bought it for my father..."

Jeno certainly didn't want their compartment to be filled with Jaemin's fans when they found out Jaemin was there. At least that's what he thought as he said, "sure."

Jaemin's eyes lit up and he handed a few coins into Jeno's hands. Moments later, they were back on their benches, with a pile of food beside them.

"Thank you for helping me, Lee Jeno," Jaemin said cheerfully.

Jeno just muttered, putting all of the candy to his bag.

“Xiaojun will bring other people in our compartment. Ed Wiswack, if I'm not mistaken. He wanted me to talk to Ed,” Jaemin explained and snorted at the end of his sentence. "My stupid cousin."

"Why did you refuse?" Jeno asked awkwardly. This is the first time he talked to someone else in a long time. Na Jaemin, out of all people, was the last person he thought would be with him in the same compartment.

“He sold me for a stupid quidditch card set! He knows I really don't like talking to strangers just because…” Jaemin bit his lip, making Jeno a little afraid he might cry.

"Because you Veela?" he asked.

Jaemin didn't answer. He just rubbed his nose. An action that Jeno later found out was Jaemin's way of holding back tears.

Somehow, Jeno wanted to calm Jaemin down. “You don't need to worry. I mean, you're talking to me, now." He shrugged, a little nervous because like Jaemin, he didn't seem to want to bring up his background.

“But your grandfather is a vampire. I mean, that's really really cool!" oblivious to Jeno's discomfrot, Jaemin looked at him curiously. Jeno's mouth opened, realizing that Jaemin could easily say what he had been covering up, he even looked amazed by it.

"Cool?" Jeno repeated.

Jaemin nodded hard. His legs swayed while he ate the chocolate.

“You are different and that's okay. In fact, that is supercool! You will become a wizard who is unique and has your own abilities. Well, I don't know about your grandfather, but my mom says we inherited something from our parents. You must know I look like this because my mom is Veela and my dad is half-Veela. Don't you think you have abilities that make you different? Isn't that cool?"

Jeno was only able to keep quiet while Jaemin chattered. He couldn't believe Na Jaemin would tell him this, but he realized they had some things in common.

“You are a very talented wizard, Lee Jeno. I know you're not aware about his, but we're in the same Herbology and Charms class. The professors always praised you and the smart one from Ravenclaw, Huang Renjun."

"You think it's because I have vampire blood?"

Jaemin shook his head quickly then looked at Jeno while tilting his head cutely. “I'm sure even if you are a muggle, you will become a great wizard. Besides, I don't know if that vampire's blood affects you like me. I mean, without Veela-blood, I would be nothing." Jaemin smiled sincerely.

That's not true, Jeno thought. He looked closely at Jaemin's face. His doe eyes, lashes were lush and mesmerizing, his thin pink lips, his now dark hair, to his protruding cheekbones and neatly lined teeth. Even though it was just the two of them, their compartment was crowded with Na Jaemin's charm that seemed to be emitted by the child. Jaemin was intoxicating, but suddenly Jeno knew he was more than just a descendant of Veela.

Suddenly Jeno realized Jaemin had finished half of his chocolate.

"At least my forte is to sleep well anywhere." He could hear Jaemin's sweet voice.

Two hours later, the train stopped in London. Jaemin and Jeno went down together.

"Mum!" Jaemin shouted when the most beautiful woman Jeno had ever seen approached them.

“Nana! I missed you so much, my baby!” Mrs. Na smiled and hugged Jaemin tightly. Mr. Na approached them and in an instant, the air around them felt thick as the charming family gathering. Time seemed to stop spinning and Jeno could only be frozen in it. Jaemin kissed his parents cheek.

"Mum, Dad, this is Jeno Lee." Jaemin cheerfully glanced at Jeno.

"Oh, hi, dear!" Mrs. Na hugged Jeno briefly. Jeno forced to hold his breath because of the fragrant smell of the woman's body. A fragrance that even Jeno had never smelled before. Mr. Na smiled at Jeno.

"Jeno." This time a call came from another direction. Jeno's mother approached.

"Ah! Mrs. Lee. Long time no see. Oh my… I don't even recognize Jeno!” Mrs. Na hugged Mrs. Lee. In contrast to Mrs. Na who looks cheerful, Mrs. Lee is a woman who is calm and has a little expression. She was wearing a gray coat that contrasted with Mrs. Na pink coat. The two women hugged for a moment. Apparently, it had been years since the two of them met.

"All right, son?" Mrs. Lee stroked Jeno's back. Jeno nodded silently while Jaemin looked a little confused. Raised in a warm family and never covering up their feelings, he didn't understand how Jeno met his mother without even hug each other. Mr. Na seemed to understand this, stroking Jaemin's shoulder. Jaemin glanced at his father before opening his mouth.

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Lee. I'm Na Jaemin."

Mrs. Lee looked at him and nodded with a small smile.

Jaemin was not satisfied with this, he continued his words. “Jeno is a very smart student! Everyone is in awe of him and wants to be friend with him. Hufflepuff won the House Cup, thanks to Jeno. He gave the most points for being so smart in classes! Too bad I can't even be as smart as Jeno even after studying so hard. So I gave up."

Mr. and Mrs. Na laughed softly at that while a big smile appeared on Mrs. Lee face. Jeno felt his face flush red. Slowly Mrs. Lee bent down so that her face was on Jaemin's level.

“Is that so, Jaemin-ie? Thanks for telling. Jeno is very 'thrifty' in sending letters. He never even mentioned that he had friend." Mrs. Lee glanced at Jeno.

Jaemin's brows furrowed. "That is not true! My friends always scramble to sit next to him when we have class together. Everyone wants to be his partner. I'm his friend." Jaemin puffed out his chest a little. This time Mrs. Lee laughed while Jeno looked at his mother in horror.

"Glad to hear that."

“I'll send a letter to Jeno. Is that okay with you, Mrs. Lee?"

"Of course."

"Ah, we need to have a picnic together, then!" Mrs. Na said cheerfully. “Last time we met at the Kim family party, Jeno was six years old. Jaemin didn't come at that time because of smallpox."

"I'll call Mr. Lee later," Mr. Na replied. The two families said goodbye.

"Bubye, Jeno!" Jaemin waved his hand excitedly at Jeno before taking his mother's hand.

"Bye," Jeno muttered without looking at Jaemin's face.

-

Jaemin wasn't lying. He regularly sends letters to Jeno during summer vacation. Sometimes he wrote with Xiaojun (who apologizing for giving a bad impression at the start of their school year). Xiaojun said that he was sorry and Jaemin told him to be nice to everyone. Jeno could felt the warmth whenever he sees Jaemin's owl, Bembi, knocking on his window. Jaemin's letters were always long, no matter how often they exchanged letters. One month before the holiday ended, their family met in Xiaojun's yard.

"Hello, Mr. Lee. I'm Na Jaemin."

“I'm Xiao Dejun. We're Jeno's friends. Sorry if we bothered you with letters all summer."

Mr. Lee smiled faintly when facing the two children who approached him before dinner. Jaemin and Xiaojun were determined, completely ignored the rumors about Jeno family, especially his father's lineage. Jeno inherited his mother's facial features, but Jaemin could see how Mr. Lee appeared in Jeno.

"What are you guys up to?" Mrs. Na raised an eyebrow at Jaemin and Xiaojun who seemed to be preparing something. It was unusual for Xiaojun to appear so polite, even his parents seemed to be waiting.

"We would like to ask your permission, if you wish, to invite Jeno to stay overnight. We will play chess, swim, and Xiaojun wants to show his collection of quidditch cards to Jeno,” Jaemin said firmly.

Xiaojun's, Jaemin's, and Jeno's parents laughed seeing this. "Are you sure, son? Jeno rarely plays. Won't he be a bother?” asked Mr. Lee.

Jaemin nodded, nudged Xiaojun in the ribs, making Xiaojun nod too. Even though the atmosphere seemed relaxed, Jeno could feel his face heating up and his father was looking at him carefully.

"We will look after him, Mr. Lee,” Xiaojun assured him.

“But Jeno is older than us. He can definitely take care of us,” Jaemin interrupted.

Mr. Lee softened to hear that. "OK. He can spend the weekend with you. But can you make sure he sends us letters every day?”

Jaemin and Xiaojun nodded together before thanking them and returning to their seats.

“Jeno isn't good at writing letters. I will teach him. You'll see, he will end up writing five pages of parchment,” Jaemin said confidently. The laughter came back.

"Hey," Jeno muttered sullenly.

“That's right, Jeno. You wrote ten more pages in Professor Binns' class. Why can't you even fill a piece of parchment to write a letter? That's funny,” Xiaojun replied.

That summer was one of the best summer that Jeno has ever had. He spent time playing in the river near the Na family's residence or the playground, which was always empty as the day went on. Xiaojun and Jaemin's mother always accompanied them. He wanted to ask why but understood it was because his parents were like that too. They never let Jeno go alone in the slightest.

Jaemin, despite his extraordinary charm, is a cheerful child who obeys everything Xiaojun and Jeno said. It seemed that he was educated to listen well to the older. He gave Xiaojun and Jeno complete trust, believing that whatever the two said was true. Xiaojun is an embodiment of Slytherin. He is smart, opportunistic, and willing to break the rules in order to get what he wants; ambitious. While Jeno would listen to Xiaojun's ideas first before expressing his opinion, even though in the end he always gave in because Jaemin also persuaded him.

As soon as the holiday ended, they returned to the castle feeling delighted. They sat in the same compartment, Jeno and Xiaojun discussing the Quidditch World Cup while Jaemin opened the letters he received even when the train was just running.

"Ah! They are more creative this year!" Jaemin exclaimed softly, opening several packages filled with frog chocolates, cakes and sweets. Xiaojun and Jeno only turned their heads before continuing their conversation.

Jeno is no longer so lonely in his second year. He shares three same classes as Slytherin, which means exchanging smirks with Xiaojun when they pass each other. He was also calmer and got used to Jaemin a little. His friends were always scented and tidier when they were going to share classes with Slytherins-completely forgetting that most Slytherins are arrogant and annoying-just to be close to Na Jaemin.

They still exchange letters, even though the contents are not as long as in the holiday. Generally telling about assignments from other classes, exchanging information that Jaemin thinks Jeno needs to know, to a little nostalgia from their summer.

Until the tragedy happened.

Jaemin drowned a Gryffindor boy, Charlie Hammerway, into his suction sludge until half of the boy's waist. The boy roared as the mud completely engulfed his leg, causing him to shake his hand with a scream that echoed deep into the castle.

Jeno and his Hufflepuff friends who just left the Herbology class were stunned to see that. Jeno especially couldn't believe Jaemin's face was so hard with a wrinkle on the tip of his nose and a tightly closed mouth. It took a few minutes for the prefect to call Professor Jung.

“Fucking loser. Who do you think you are?" Jaemin didn't care about the people watching, still pointing his wand at Charlie who was now sinking to his chest.

"Help!!" Charlie was screaming, but no one moved. Everyone seemed to freeze seeing Jaemin torturing the boy. Xiaojun and the other Slytherins approached them.

Jeno hoped that Xiaojun would defuse whatever happened, but instead he patted Jaemin's shoulder, as if reassuringly, while glaring at Charlie.

"You deserve that." Xiaojun hissed.

Jeno couldn't believe what he saw. He never thought that he would see two of his friends torturing another person, even tending to enjoy Charlie's screams. Luckily Professor Jung came, waved his wand and in an instant, Charlie was lifted from the mud puddle and landed on the ground. Professor Jung returned to swinging his stick and the mud returned to solid ground.

"Mr. Na?" he turned towards Jaemin with a cold gaze.

Jaemin didn't answer, but pocketed his wand and looked away. He met Jeno who was standing in the crowd and in a moment his expression softened. However Jeno was overcome with anger and disgust, making him turn around and leave.

"Na Jaemin did that because Charlie is muggle."

“Ewh, that's the other way to spell 'mudblood'? He's crazy."

“What do you expect? He's a Slytherin after all!"

In the room, he shoved all the letters from Jaemin into the deepest part of his suitcase.

-

"Jeno!" Jaemin grabbed Jeno's wrist the next two days, after he completely ignored the younger. Jeno was already getting ready for his flying lessons when Jaemin appeared.

"Don't touch me, Na." Jeno waved his hand.

"What?" Jaemin gasped. He didn't seem as bright as usual. "What is wrong?" he looked at Jeno confusedly.

"Don't pretend, Na. I saw what you did to Charlie. What were you thinking? Just because he's a muggle so you have to placed him like that? Literally drowning in the mud?"

"Please listen to me first. I know its my fault to treated him like that, but–"

"I don't want to hear anything from you anymore." Jeno stared at Jaemin's hand which was still stretched out helplessly.

Jaemin's eyes widened in disbelief. Jeno could see how surprised Jaemin was and wasn't ready for his words. But he couldn't help himself. Not when the person he considered a friend, even made his chest pound harder, became a terrible person.

“You are really a Slytherin, huh? You think your pure witch blood can help you in the real world? Just because you have a group of people who adores you, then you can do whatever you want? You know what, you makes me sick. I can't believe the man who talked to me kindly on the Hogwarts Express last year became a monster."

Jaemin pursed his lips together, his hands clenched slowly.

"So you believe that too?" he spoke softly.

“You just proved all the rumors about you. So, stay away from me."

Jeno's words were like horns smeared with poison and pointed not only at Jaemin's head, but also at his heart. His lips trembled, but he held herself back. His tears were already crowded while his throat felt choked. Jaemin let out a muffled sound from his mouth, trying to take a breath that seemed to just float above his head.

"Sorry. Sorry." He muttered before leaving.

 _Breath, breath_ , Jaemin entered his empty room because all his friends must be in class right now. His breath seemed to return as tears spilled out, wetting his hands covering his face.

"Nana?" A few minutes later, Xiaojun entered the room. He was worried because he didn't see Jaemin in the Transfiguration class after Jaemin said that he would look for Jeno.

"Jun," Jaemin cried. He hugged Xiaojun tightly while crying on the older's shoulder. His face must be crushed by now. As a Veela, Jaemin knows negative emotions affect his appearance.

“What happened, Nana? Oh no." Xiaojun panicked, hugging Jaemin tightly.

“J-Jen-Jeno… he said… fuck. Its hurts, Jun. W-why… he didn't want to see me… h-he said… I'm-I'm a f-freaking… monster. Jun… ” Jaemin roared on the Xiaojun's chest.

"What the fuck?!"

“He saw me… with Charlie. That time. I-I tried to explain… b-but…”

"Sssh... Nana, calm down, okay?" Xiaojun tightened his embrace as Jaemin's body trembled violently. He knew Jaemin had deep feelings for Jeno. He knows his cousin likes Jeno. He has known Jaemin since they were little, taking care of Jaemin like his own brother and the last thing he wants is to see Jaemin cry and get hurt.

_Fuck, Lee Jeno._

-

Jaemin shut himself up. A gloomy aura had taken over the past three days, making him come to the Great Hall looking messy. His hair was matted, his smile was invisible, and he was gone at lightning speed. A pile of letters and gifts arrived for him every morning. This made Xiaojun accompany him all the time.

"Nana, you have to eat."

“Just go, Jun. I'll eat later."

Before dinner, Jaemin was curled up under his blanket after taking a shower. He refused Xiaojun's invitation to eat in the Great Hall.

"I'll eat one of the cake. I want to sleep now, Jun. Just go."

Sighing, Xiaojun complied. He went to the Great Hall after making sure Jaemin was asleep. As soon as dinner was over, he parted the Hufflepuff group, lunged at Lee Jeno who was chatting with Huang Renjun in front of the Great Hall.

"You have to apologize to Jaemin," was all Xiaojun said when he was facing Jeno.

Jeno pushed him away. “After what he did? After what _you_ did?"

Xiaojun shook his head impatiently. A crowd had begun to form around them.

“You didn't even listen, Lee. But you makes him cry. Do you know he couldn't even eat properly this past days?"

“I don't want to listen, Xiaojun. I'm even surprised that you still want to talk to me. Aren't you guys really maintaining your pure blood? You know, I truly believe you've changed."

"Fuck it, Lee Jeno!" Xiaojun punched Jeno's face. Some of the girls are screaming to see that. Jeno was squeezed against the wall along with people who gave a low squeal.

"Yeah. Show them how much you fit in Slytherin, Xiao Dejun."

Xiaojun was about to land another punch when he heard a scream.

"Xiaojun!" they turned their heads to find Lee Felix, Slytherin prefect, running towards them.

"Later, Felix-hyung." Xiaojun raised his hand, ready to throw another punch.

“No! Jaemin! He's in the Hospital Wing now. Chenle found him lying beside the bed! Bleeding."

For the sake of hearing Felix's words, Xiaojun pushed his way through the crowd that began to buzz curiously. Jeno also ran. No matter how much he said he hated Jaemin, but imagining Jaemin in the condition Felix said he couldn't help worried him. Renjun follows him.

They stopped at the closed door of the hospital.

"...I don't know, hyung... He was just... just like sleeping, y'know?" a Ravenclaw boy with blond hair and a pale face said to Xiaojun frantically.

"Hey, Chenle. Whats up?" Renjun took over, approaching Zhong Chenle.

"Renjun-hyung!" Chenle mourned, his face still worried.

“Breath, Chenle. Tell us what's happened?"

Chenle obeyed Renjun's words before opening his mouth. His tears welled up. “I went to Jaemin-hyung's room. He hadn't eaten properly for several days and Xiaojun-hyung was at the Slytherin table. So I thought he was alone. When I entered, I saw him on the floor. Blood! Blood from his nose and mouth. He's not breathing, so I screamed as best I could because I didn't want to leave him alone!" Chenle cried.

"Its okay, Chenle," Renjun hugged Chenle, not daring to turn around to see Xiaojun and Jeno's expressions. The two people seemed to forget their fight just now and froze.

Felix came back and said, “there is a group of people who already intend to visit Jaemin. I've coordinated with the prefects of each houses to keep everyone in their room.”

Xiaojun just nodded, completely nervous and worried about Jaemin's condition. Slowly the hospital door swung open and Madame Choi appeared. She looked at the children in turn with a sigh.

"He ate a box full of chocolate that had been mixed with… well, I think some sort unusual Amortentia," Madame Choi lifted the packet of chocolates that she managed to take out of Jaemin's mouth. “I'll send this to Professor Jung for further inspection. I managed to clean his stomach. How long since his last meal?" this time Madame Choi's gaze narrowed.

Xiaojun and Jeno could only swallowed hard.

"His stomach is almost empty!" Madame Choi shook her head. “He's very weak right now. Felix, send this note to the kitchen. He needs to eat."

Felix received the small parchment from Madame Choi and hurried away.

"Can we visit him?" came Chenle's nasal voice.

"Will you'd be noisy?"

Xiaojun, Jeno, Chenle, and Renjun shakes their head. Madame Choi sighed and opened the door wider, sending them all rushing in.

Jaemin laid on the only occupied bed. His thin body seemed powerless while his eyes slowly blinked. There were blood spots on his robe.

"Oh, Nana." Chenle sobbed, hugging Jaemin's body.

"Easy, big baby... easy," Renjun stroked Chenle's back.

Jaemin slowly looked at Chenle. He wanted to stroke Chenle's back, but his hands felt so weak.

"Chenle-ya..." he whispered softly.

"Yes, Jaemin-hyung?" Chenle lifted her tearful face from Jaemin's chest.

"Chenle-ya..." Jaemin repeated in a trembling voice. "Are you… are you okay?"

This time Chenle actually roared, crying against Jaemin's chest. Madame Choi approached with wide eyes.

“Sorry, Madame Choi… He is just very very sad,” Renjun said.

"Please tone it down before I'm starting to regret my decision," murmured Madame Choi before leaving.

“Chenle, stop crying. You're going to get us all kicked from here,” said Renjun.

"H-how can I-I stop, hyung?" Chenle held back his voice, tears still flowing. "J-Jaemin-hyung is sick right now... but he ask how am I doing..."

"I'm okay, Chenle-ya..."

Chenle looked at Jaemin closely. "I'm gonna protect you from now on, hyung. Like you protected me from that Charlie-boy from Gryffindor. You were in detention for protecting me at that time even though he was the one who called me 'mudblood'. You're too kind!”

Jaemin smiled weakly, closing his eyes a little longer because his head was still spinning. He caught the shadow of Xiaojun and Jeno behind Chenle and Renjun, but he was sure he was hallucinating because Jeno couldn't possibly be here now.

_Jeno is mad at me._

While Jeno could only be stunned to see it all. His brain seemed to stop working when he heard Chenle's side of story. Renjun spared him a glance for a moment before trying to calm Chenle.

“Xiao–” Jeno looked at Xiaojun. He felt he was the worst person now.

“Not now, Lee. I promise I'll hex you later."

Jeno swallowed hard, his gaze returned to Jaemin's weak body. "I deserve that."

-

Jeno visited Jaemin the next day, when Chenle said Jaemin was awake and more refreshed. He managed to persuade Xiaojun to give him time to talk to Jaemin after they resolved the misunderstanding between them. Xiaojun still clenched his jaw during their conversation, but he also wanted Jaemin to get an apology from Jeno.

"Hurt him again and I'll kill you." At least he's still quite rational. He knew he knew Jeno very well and that boy wouldn't do anything to hurt Jaemin.

Jeno nodded. "I know you can and I believe you will."

Jaemin was sitting on his bed, smiling at the frog chocolates he received from Chenle.

"Jaemin-ah." Jeno approached him slowly.

Jaemin looked up and Jeno always felt his heart stop every time Jaemin looked at him. Jaemin was already wearing light blue pajamas which looked comfortable. His eyes widened to see Jeno.

"I'm sorry, Jaemin-ah," Jeno said after sitting next to Jaemin's bed.

"I'm so bad. I'm sorry. I know you won't forgive me, but I just want you to know how sorry I am. You didn't deserve any of it. If I don't say that, you won't be sick like now. Bloody hell, my words are so heartless and cruel." Jeno rubbed his face to simply refocus on his apologies.

"Nana. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean any of that. I know it won't make you any better because I already said it, but you deserve an apology and I deserve to be punished. You're the kindest person I've ever met, Nana. Please don't let my words get into you." _You're perfect_ , Jeno gulped. His presence feels so small and despicable in front of Jaemin who always shines like a star.

"Jeno..."

Jeno raised his face. He was known to have had no expression before. _Stoned-face_. But this time, his eyes seemed to drop because of his wrongdoing.

"Can we adopt Chenle?"

Jeno's eyes widened in disbelief. He leaned forward to at least catch what the meaning of Jaemin's words. "What, Nana?"

Jaemin frowned slightly before saying, “I know you've always want a cat. But for now, can we settle with Chenle? He's adorable."

Jeno stuttered to open his mouth. “Chenle… Zhong Chenle? He doesn't have a parent? Nana, I don't–"

“It's cute,” Jaemin showed a sparkle in his eyes. Jeno blinked while trying to comprehend. He remembered his love for cats and how they would exchange letters about cats for days. Jeno will tell about half a dozen of his pet cats and Jaemin, not to be outdone, tells about the cats he met on the street and his pet dogs. Jeno and Jaemin have owls, but they are trying to persuade their parents to raise cats in the castle. So far the challenge lies in how their common rooms are in different side of the castle and disputes about the turn taking care of it.

"Y-yes, Nana. We can. You want to pet him?" Jeno slowly smiled, raising an eyebrow. Seeing Chenle's attitude towards Jaemin last night, he was sure Chenle would do anything for Jaemin.

Jaemin nodded quickly. "Look, he gave you dozens of chocolate frogs!"

 _I can buy you more, Nana. Even the rest of Honeydukes,_ Jeno thought looking at Jaemin, who is now full of smiles.

"You forgive me, Nana?"

Jaemin's eyes flickered while looking at Jeno. That was when Jeno realized how Na Jaemin always had a way to calm him down, even now that Jaemin was lying in the hospital because of his actions. Jaemin didn't show the slightest sign that he was angry with Jeno.

"I'll protect you from now on, Nana."

-

After that, nothing has changed. Jaemin and Jeno wrote letters again, letting all the rumors about Jaemin echoed because they don't care about lies, let alone what other people thought about them. Xiaojun is more protective of Jaemin, obviously throwing away all the gifts addressed to the younger. He doesn't want to miss anything because even though Veela-blood makes Jaemin immune to love potions, badly mixed Amortentia is very dangerous for him.

“Look! Xiao Dejun throwing up the waves of gifts. Again!” Yangyang hissed from his desk, pointing at Xiaojun who lightly shuffled all the gifts apart from letters into a large cloth bag that he was ready to throw in the trash. Jaemin looked calm, reading his letters as usual.

“I heard Minsoo-hyung from seventh grade gave Jaemin a golden snitch that he bought in Hongkong. Oh, and you know Ruby McCoulighan? Yeah, the girl with a very beautiful eyes from Hufflepuff. She was giving Jaemin a cruise trip for our upcoming holiday. But Xiaojun threw it all away."

"What a waste!" Yangyang exclaimed.

Bomin shook his head. “You heard that Jaemin had to spend a day and night in the hospital because of Amortentia poisoning. Madame Choi reported this to Jaemin's parents, making them ask Xiaojun to really select the gifts given to Jaemin. His Veela-blood gives Madame Choi a headache, asking Professor Jung to help her to formulate the right medicine.

"That's what you get when you accept non-human-a literal magical creature-in the school."

"Hey, cut it. What are you talking about?!" Haechan exclaimed disapprovingly. “What an awful thing to say. Now eat your breakfast or I'll make you walk to the Slytherin table and apologize to Jaemin AND Xiaojun."

Yangyang was grumbling over his plate while Haechan shook his head. When Haechan looked up, he saw Jeno who was sitting at the Hufflepuff table in front of him. Jeno's lips pursed tightly, staring at Yangyang who didn't even notice. But when he realized Haechan was watching him, he smiled sincerely. Haechan felt his heart stop beating.

-

On their first visit to Hogsmeade, Jeno couldn't take his eyes off the group of Slytherins sitting outside the Shrieking Shacks. He'd just been from the post office, bought a set of quidditch player edition stamps he'd been wanting for so long when he heard his familiar laughter.

Jaemin was among them. Laughing as one of his friends tried to throw the wooden stick as close as possible to the Shrieking Shacks. He looked amazing, wearing jeans jacket that covered his white hoodie. His jet black hair was styled while his face was flushed red from the wind. Jeno had never seen that kind of style before, guessing that Jaemin was wearing his muggle outfit.

"Quit staring, Lee Jeno." He heard Renjun next to him.

"I'm not staring." Jeno quickly continued walking. They head to the Three Broomsticks for some butterbeer.

"You know, I still can't understand why you guys are so close in letter but you never say hi to him."

"We say hi to each other."

Renjun stared at him dryly. “You actually never spare a glance to Na Jaemin. What are you afraid of?" they could already see the Three Broomsticks old building, which looked warm from the outside.

Jeno's body kind of immune to the cold weather. This is one of the features of his vampire legacy. It's no wonder that Lee Taeyong, captain of the Hufflepuff quidditch team, was impressed and immediately made him a chaser. Even today he only wore a blue sweater and jeans, unlike Renjun who was already wearing two layers of clothes under his coat and gloves.

“We're good,” was Jeno's only answer as they were about to enter the Three Broomsticks. The place was not very full. It seemed that the group of students were still wandering around the shops in Hogsmeade before sitting down and drinking butterbeer. The two of them ordered two large glasses of bubbly butterbeer and sat down at an empty table by the window.

Jeno had hoped that Renjun would talk about anything, but it seemed he was still continuing their conversation about Jaemin. The conversation about Jaemin was one of Renjun's favorites because he satisfied making fun of Jeno since Jeno could only remain silent.

"Admit it, Na Jaemin is very attractive and you are stupid to make a move."

Jeno snorted. He still doesn't understand all of Renjun's worries and demands to "make a move" to Jaemin. After more than a year of being friend with Renjun, he no longer needed to cover up his feelings for Jaemin which he had only been able to express through letters (which Renjun accidentally read-"oh, of course! You replied to my letter in two paragraphs throughout the summer and you happened to wrote Jaemin twelve pages long!"). Jeno is quite happy to be friends with Jaemin. He didn't need to pry open his expressionless face that seemed to explode every time Jaemin was around him. Their only link in the real world was Chenle who at breakfast cheerfully moved from beside Jaemin at the Slytherin table to Jeno and Renjun at the Ravenclaw table.

"You're imp–"

The door clanged open. This time it was louder and filled with laughter which made the place even busier. Jeno immediately looked away when he realized Jaemin and his friends came. They sat at a large table in the middle of the room. Jaemin rubbed his nose and took over ordering. He walked to the counter and ordered a dozen butterbeers with a big smile.

Renjun then started to talk about their classes, much to Jeno's delight. At least they don't talk about Jaemin when Jaemin is around.

"Lets go," Jeno said when he realized it was getting dark outside. He and Renjun walked out of the Three Broomsticks without even looking back at the Slytherins.

"Oh, crap," Renjun cursed suddenly. “I forgot Chenle's favorite candy. You know the one with ginger in it? He has repeatedly reminded me."

“Its okay. Go first,” Jeno squeaked into the street filled with Hogwarts students. Among them were the Ravenclaws who were also about to return to the castle.

"I'll buy it." He saw that Renjun was already shivering.

"Are you okay with it?"

“Yeah,” he still wanting to enjoy being outside the castle longer as the snow started to fall. _Chenle is our son_ , Jaemin wrote, always whenever they talk about Chenle in the letter. He smiled reassuringly and Renjun thanked him before jogging back to the castle.

At least Honeydukes is still open and much quieter. Jeno quickly grabbed Chenle's favorite ginger candy, Jaemin's favorite honey sweets that always made his teeth ache to imagine how sweet it is, and mint candy filled with his favorite jam. He paid and exited the shop. The streets of Hogsmeade were getting deserted as the lights went on.

“No! Step back!" He was taking a lonely shortcut to the main road when he heard another voice in the dark passage. Jeno was about to ignore it when the voice sounded again, more frustrated this time.

"Ge-get off of me!"

"A creature as beautiful as you can't hang around on its own, eh? Look, you're so different from your snobby friends at the Three Broomsticks. Veela, eh? Damn."

Something flashed in Jeno's head and he immediately rushed towards the sound.

He saw Jaemin pressed against the wall. Three men gathered around him, laughing. Jaemin looked helpless because his wand-wielding hand was gripped tightly beside his head and Jeno knew Jaemin's physique was never prepared for a physical fight.

Jeno dropped his groceries in a loud noise, quickly lunging at the three men at once, throwing them into the corner of the hallway causing a racket between the bodies colliding with the trash can.

"What the–"

“Magic isn't allowed outside of school, so I'll chop you up with my hands. Is that good?" Jeno growled.

The three men who were originally about to embrace their gadfly were surprised to notice that Jeno's eyes turned red and his growl showed a pair of elongated canines. Even though they were wizards too, they knew what they were dealing with was not ordinary wizard. One of them shakily held up his wand, but Jeno grinned and with great speed he twisted the hand. A scream blaring.

"What are you?!"

In no time, Jeno knocked out the three of them and threw them on the ground with a bruised face.

"J-Jen..."

He heard a call mixed with sobs behind him and instantly remembered Jaemin needed help. Jeno approached Jaemin anxiously.

“Are you okay, Nana? Fuck. Are you hurt? Did they hurt you?"

Jaemin shook his head between tears. Jeno hugged his tightly, but quickly let go when he realized that his temperature must have made Jaemin shudder.

“No! Jeno, I-I need that. Please."

Even though he hesitated, Jeno hugged Jaemin again. This time Jaemin poked his head against the base of Jeno's neck. As soon as he felt Jaemin's breath on his skin, Jeno's eyes slowly turned black and his fangs became smaller.

"C-Can we go, J-Jen?"

Jeno nodded. He made sure that Jaemin's attackers were completely sprawled before escorting Jaemin and grabbing his shopping bag.

"Here, Nana." He opened his shopping bag after they were far from the path and handed Jaemin's favorite honey candy.

"Oh thanks, Jeno!" Jaemin received it with both hands, clenched himself into Jeno's embrace. "I'm going back to Honeydukes to buy this candy and Chenle's favorite ginger candy when they..."

"Shh. Its okay, Nana. They bothered you before?" Jeno asked while rubbing Jaemin's arm.

Jaemin nodded slowly, his hand holding the front of Jeno's sweater. “My friends kicked them out at Three Broomsticks when they tried to hold my hand. I swear I'm not weak, Jeno... I'm so ready to hex them but they grabbed my hand."

“You are strong, Nana. I know, that. Is that hurt?" Jeno asked as Jaemin turned his wrist. Jaemin tugged at the hem of his jacket and revealed a row of red marks on his skin.

"Assholes," muttered Jeno angrily.

"Please don't come back for them, Jen. They're not worth it."

Jeno took a deep breath even though with Jaemin in his arms, it was more than calming. He could smell vanilla and mixed with the distinctive aroma of spices from Jaemin's body that he could never find anywhere else.

They walk in silence, enjoying the closeness they rarely have. The snow was still slowly falling, blurring their vision a little, but they were relieved to see that the carriage that was going to take them back was still waiting.

"Oh, no. Chenle will be mad at me," Jaemin regretted as they arrived near the last carriage.

Jeno calmed his down by opening his grocery bag, showing dozens of candies mixed up at the bottom. Jaemin's eyes widened and Jeno felt his heart stop beating when Jaemin looked at him with an indescribable gaze.

"That's why I love you, Jen," he sighed as he briefly hugged Jeno's back before getting on the carriage.

Jeno just froze in place.

-

Jeno finally realized his feelings for Jaemin. He liked it because with Jaemin, he could be his true self and proud of it. He was always thinking about how the students from his house were judged as awkward and nerd, making him thinking twice about trying to socialize with the others. Jaemin is the only one who says it's okay to be yourself. Thinking of Jaemin calmed his down for the long days.

( _"…You don't have to push yourself, Jen. You are amazing. If people can't see that in you, its their fault, not yours. Look at Renjun. He likes to be friends with you without you trying to be friendly to anyone. If you feel that you're good on your own, then be it…"_ )

This made Jeno feel so much better. Not only that, he can feel more comfortable writing letters to his parents. Mr. and Mrs. Lee was always worried that his reticence would get him into trouble at Hogwarts. Especially with their family history which cannot be said to be good. Jeno finally dared to express his feelings for his parents.

( _"…Jaemin said I need to be comfortable being myself so I could study well. You don't need to force me to be a cheerful child because it's not me. On the contrary, I likes my friends; Jaemin, Renjun, Chenle, and Xiaojun. So its enough. You don't need to worry…”_ )

Even though he felt that he was never suitable for working in a team, Jeno participated in the selection for the quidditch team because of Jaemin, Renjun, and Chenle encouragement. Jaemin said that Jeno is very good at flying and likes quidditch. That's enough to get him on the team. Chenle promised to always cheer him every time he played, even making a signboard to support him. Meanwhile Renjun grinned and said arrogantly: “At least in this thing, you are clearly superior than me, Jen. Isn't that rare?"

He passed the selection, becoming one of the Hufflepuff chasers and making him receive more attention than usual. Jeno was used to having heads turned when he entered the room. He receives several love confessions every week, of course far less than Jaemin receives. But Jeno never cared because that thing didn't give him any pleasure.

"Of course! All you think about is Na Jaemin!” Renjun breathed a sigh, causing Chenle who was sitting beside him to laugh.

"Jeno-hyung, you are not stupid, right?" Chenle said as his laughter died down.

This made Jeno want to sink his face into his food bowl while Renjun snorted with amusement.

Realizing that Jaemin made him feel much more comfortable, happy, and calm, Jeno had no other choice to hold back himself from something he wanted.

He wants to be with Jaemin.

Just it. So he spends more time studying, because their teachers often ask for help to supervise practice in classrooms. The tactic worked. Jeno is asked to help Professor Jung supervise Ravenclaw and Slytherin Potion class.

Jeno helped everyone as best he could, producing a hiss of Renjun-who also stepped in to help his friends-in his ears (“help them nicely, you idiot! You never open your mouth!” Jeno snorted, retorting by saying that it wasn't his fault that Sylvia Abledeen's potion popped because that girl was too busy trying to touch Jeno). Professor Jung seemed aware of Jeno's coldness, but Jeno was one of the brightest students and he let the students help in his way.

The concept is simple. Jeno and Renjun were not allowed to touch anything other than watching and making sure Professor Lee's instructions were conveyed properly. They only needed to be shadows at least to avoid the big explosions or the student' fatal mistakes.

From his seat, Jeno watched Jaemin calmly boiling snails in his cauldron. Jaemin cannot be called a brilliant student because he always does everything according to the average. He seemed to refuse to attract more attention than his striking appearance. Even so, this time he looked serious. His forehead creased occasionally and his lips pursed, a sign that he was focused. Several times he brushed his black hair back in order to read the manual more clearly. He had rolled up the sleeves of his uniform and was carefully moving from table to cauldron.

 _Oops_ , Jeno realized Jaemin was too weak to squeeze the wombat root, making the plant just giggle with amusement without releasing the sap as suggested. Even after using both hands, the wombat root only extracted two drops of the sap from the two spoons needed to complete the potion.

Professor Jung looked up over Jaemin's cauldron. "Ah! Almost perfect, Mr. Na! Lack of sap, I suppose?"

Jaemin's face flushed red and Jeno wanted to pinch Jaemin's adorable cheeks. "I'm not strong enough to squeeze him, Professor."

“I can help–” Sarah Connor was already on the move to help, but Professor Jung held her back.

"Mrs. Connor, you better focus on your potions because I'm sure the liquid in your cauldron should be dark purple now, not pink." Professor Jung then turned to Jeno and asked him to come closer.

Some of the girls shrieked when they saw Jeno stand up. Jaemin rolled his eyes and Jeno kept himself from smiling.

"Mr. Lee, show him how to squeeze a wombat root properly,” Professor Jung ordered before moving to Xiaojun's table.

Once Jeno and Jaemin were alone at their table, the two of them busied themselves with anything other than looking at each other. Jeno could see Jaemin's temples sweating and realized his hands were like that too. Calming himself down, Jeno grabbed the wombat root that was now writhing in his hand.

"Jaemin," he called softly. "Put your hands on the ends, turn them in the opposite direction."

"Is that so?" Jaemin mimicked Jeno's hand movements with his wombat root. Jeno nodded and smiled thinly realizing that Jaemin folded his lips to squeeze the wombat root as hard as he could. _What a sight_ , Jeno sighed to himself, _what a cute sight_.

It works. Slowly Jaemin's first spoon filled. Jaemin thanked him and poured it into the cauldron. He repeated his action to squeeze the second root as Jeno held his hand.

“Don't forget, you put in two drops of sap before. So make sure your second spoon is not full."

"Oops, you are right." Jaemin didn't even dare to raise his face to look at Jeno. It wasn't his fault that in the sultry and smoky Potions room, Jeno's pale skin was striking, making it a contrast to match the atmosphere around him.

At the end of class, for the first time Jaemin's potion got a perfect score. Jeno hid a smile when he saw Jaemin blushed when Professor Jung announced their grades.

"Ah, Professor, I need to discuss my paper. Can I talk to you?" as everyone got up from their chairs, Renjun asked Professor Jung.

"You are very diligent, Mr. Huang. The paper is due next month. But, well, I suppose it was really necessary to discuss it earlier. We can discuss it on the way to the Great Hall for lunch.” Professor Jung took off his glasses and took a step. Renjun walked behind him after winked at Jeno.

As soon as Professor Jung and most of the students came out of the Potion classroom which now smelled burnt, Jeno stood up and approached Jaemin who was still pouring the potions into the small containers as Professor Jung asked each time a student perfected their potion.

Xiaojun patted Jaemin's shoulder to say goodbye. He caught Jeno's gaze, then raised his eyebrows and the corners of her lips before turned away.

"Hi, Nana," Jeno said when he arrived at Jaemin's table.

Jaemin looked up after putting down the cauldron. "Hi, Jen." He smiled and Jeno had never felt this nervous before. Even when he was undergoing quidditch trials.

“Thank you for helping me, Jeno. This is the first time I got a perfect score for Potion,” Jaemin said cheerfully when Jeno was silent for a few moments.

"No problem. Uhm…” Jeno moistened his dry lips. Jaemin straightened his body to face Jeno. At the moment Jaemin's gaze is only focused on him, making him seem like the only person that matters, Jeno felt his breath being taken away from his body.

"Hm?" Jaemin sang sweetly.

“Will you go with me to Hogsmeade? You know… Next Saturday?”

Jaemin's eyes widened for a moment before his face turned red. He was busy looking at everything on his desk rather than Jeno's clear eyes that looked hopeful. He restrained himself from screaming happily at that moment. _Oh no, this is embarrassing_ , Jaemin thought when he felt he was not fully functional in front of Jeno.

"I want to take you on a date."

The room seemed to have become increasingly narrow, leaving Jeno and Jaemin sharing the air in front of them without them noticing. In Jaemin's eyes, Jeno has always been a pole of his own, even when they first met each other when they got off the Hogwarts Express in his first year. Jeno is the palest peopleJaemin has ever met and he can't help poking Xiaojun, asking if the child is sick.

“It's Jeno Lee and he's not sick. His grandfather was a vampire and you know, Nana, his father liked drinking blood too."

 _Jeno Lee._ The name seemed to appear by itself whenever Jaemin felt there was nothing to think about. _Jeno Lee._ When the professor calls out their names in class. _Jeno Lee._ When lots of girls giggled in the hallway. _Jeno Lee._ When they were spent the rest of the summer together. _Jeno Lee._

Jaemin hopes that with the frequent mention of Jeno's full name, he won't find himself attracted to the older.

But the goddamn Jeno Lee was now in front of him. Ask him out on a date to Hogsmeade next Saturday.

“I'd love to,” said Jaemin quietly, only daring to glance at Jeno for a moment before clearing his desk so he couldn't see Jeno Lee's first crescent moon-eyes smile at Hogwarts.

-

Their first date went smoothly, if all you're looking for is sitting together in the outer part of the forest, staring at the Shrieking Shack and retelling the famous Remus Lupin story (and Jaemin _swears_ he didn't cry when they came to discussing the second witchcraft war and how good Professor Teddy was). Jeno and Jaemin both came to an agreement to have some time alone. Jaemin separated himself from his group and said goodbye to Xiaojun, approaching Jeno who was waiting for him. Jaemin promised to buy Renjun whatever he wanted when he found a blanket and a basket of food lying on the ground-thanks to Renjun's help.

Jeno knew his anxiety was completely uncalled for as he memorized all of Jaemin's food and made sure to provide it at that time, but he couldn't help biting his lip as they sat side by side. When their time was up, Jeno pinched Jaemin's cheeks, which were bulging because the child was frowning. They walked slowly until they saw Xiaojun waiting at the end of the road. Jaemin said goodbye to Jeno and ran over to Xiaojun. Together they walked away while Jeno still maintained his slow pace.

It was getting dark and he didn't mind walking alone to the carriage that will bring him back to Hogwarts.

"Hey! How was it?" but before long, Renjun appeared out of nowhere, walking beside him.

Thank you. It was fantastic."

Renjun laughed softly seeing Jeno's smile cracking open. He was happy to see Jeno looked lighter.

"Told you. Its not that hard. So," Renjun took a breath for a moment. "When are you going to ask him to be your boyfriend? I mean, officially. No matter how good your date was, of course you wanted to hold his hand from the moment you left the castle, drinking together at the Three Broomsticks, or kissing on the yard–”

"I won't ask him to be my boyfriend."

Jeno's words made Renjun gaped. “WHAT?! What-why?!” Renjun did not realize that Jeno's happy smile had completely disappeared before, changing to his usual cold expression.

Jeno just shook his head, as if he knew very well this would happen.

“Oh shit,” Renjun cursed before holding onto Jeno's arm, causing them to stop in the middle of a lonely road. “You knew this gonna happen. That's why you never ask him to go on a date with you. Right? Jeno. You're hiding something from me."

_Renjun is too smart._

Seeing that Jeno was not gonna say anything, Renjun sighed. He remembered Jaemin's face when Jaemin and Xiaojun passed. Jaemin hid his face around Xiaojun's neck to hold back his cries of joy and Xiaojun laughed happily. "Jaemin will be fucking sad."

 _Ouch_. Hearing this, Jeno's shoulders immediately drooped.

-

As if that wasn't enough, the next few days, Jaemin sprawled in front of the Transfiguration class after _something_ in his hand exploded. Xiaojun shouted loudly when he saw his cousin uncounsciously lay on the floor with blistered face and wounded hands while his uniform was in tatters. Jeno who was already in the class and heard Xiaojun's scream immediately came out, getting rid of the crowd and were stunned at the scene in front of him.

Xiaojun sat down, hugging Jaemin's head with both hands. Jaemin's face was barely recognizable as his skin was melting and blood was pouring out. His hands were lying on his sides, even everyone could see the white line of bones because the flesh on his fingers had _melted_.

"No, no, no..." Xiaojun roared. Jeno went straight to him.

"Jun-ah..."

"Nana!" Xiaojun called in a muffled voice, he closed his eyes when he could no longer see Jaemin's face. "J-Jeno... wh-what should..." Xiaojun's voice trembling for the first time brought Jeno back to his senses. He swung his wand and in an instant a stretcher appeared hovering beside them. His breath seemed to be choking as he smelled the charred flesh and his hands shook knowing Jaemin is in danger.

"Students! What are you doing outside…” then came a stern voice from behind the crowd. The students make way for Professor Suh who is approaching. He stared at Jaemin, Xiaojun, and Jeno, but quickly swung his wand. Jaemin's body floated slowly and landed on the stretcher. He turned to escort the stretcher to the Hospital Wing, Xiaojun and Jeno walking behind.

Jeno wanted to curse when he realized their class was very far from the Hospital Wing and hoped they could apparate inside the castle. _Please be okay, Jaemin-ah. Please..._ he unconsciously chanted silently. Xiaojun could only say the name ' _Nana_ ' over and over again with tears pouring down his eyes.

"What happened?!" Madame Choi welcomed them, aware of Professor Suh's expression. She looked and shrieked at Jaemin's condition on a stretcher.

“You can heal it, right, Madame Choi? H-he's not breathing… Madame Choi, is he okay?” Xiaojun kept asking questions when Jaemin's body was laid on the hospital bed.

“Madame Choi is a great healer, Jun. Jaemin… Jaemin will be fine,” Jeno restrained Xiaojun who winced whenever Madame Choi tried to touch Jaemin. "Please take care of him, Madame Choi. Please take care of Jaemin."

“I always do my best, so you can't bother me. Come on! Get out!" Madame Choi proceed to kick them out. Professor Suh herded Xiaojun and Jeno out of the hospital and closed the door behind him.

"Can you guys explain what happened?" Even though he knew that the two boys in front of him were very shaken, Professor Suh still tried to be critical in accessing everything.

Jeno just shook his head softly, wanted as much as possible to give Xiaojun time to catch his breath so he could know what was going on.

“A present,” Xiaojun whispered a moment later as his tears dried up. Now Jeno could see the tenderness in Xiaojun's sharp eyes. “The gift came late… it's wrapped in brown paper with a gold ribbon on it. I-I didn't know he brought it to class. He walked away when we were all going to entered the classroom and suddenly…”

 _Boom_ , Jeno remembered that loud voice from outside the classroom.

"W-what is it, Professor?"

Professor Suh only paused for a moment before hurriedly walking away. Xiajon and Jeno glanced at each other before running after. Before long, they arrived in front of the Transfiguration class. The hallway was empty because the students had entered the classroom. But the traces of chaos were still visible.

Professor Suh grabbed a palm-wide piece of cloth as black as soot from the floor.

"This is it."

-

Jaemin's parents came an hour later. Mrs. Na cried on her husband's shoulder as Professor Suh briefly explained what happened.

Jaemin received a gift. A curse ball. Explodes when he is about to enter class.

Mrs. Na is unconscious after Xiaojun agrees to accept Legilimens, making Jaemin's parents, Professor Suh, and the Headmaster see the explosion in detail.

Jeno was only able to ponder when he returned to repeat his memories of what he read before. The Curse Ball was of course formulated illegally, but precisely. Apart from Jaemin, no one was injured. The Curse Ball accumulates energy over time and releases that energy blindly to its recipient. Generally, it is filled with fire and earth elements, making it so dangerous that its circulation is closely watched by the Ministry of Magic.

An hour later, the hospital doors opened, revealing Madame Choi as stern as ever.

"It's not a gift," she shook his head. "Na Jaemin realized it too and he was smart to saved the letter on the package." Madame Choi held out a piece of parchment that had black sides on it.

Its Mr. and Mrs. Na who grabbed it and read it first. Nothing could be read from their faces to the point where their eyes widened in horror and Mrs. Na cursed without holding back.

“HOW DARE–” she growled and in an instant, she emerged from her beauty. Her hair seemed to drift, her face flushed, while the corners of her eyes and lips tapered drastically. Before she could do anything, Mr. Na hugged his wife's body after dropping the parchment he had read earlier.

“An angry mother. And a Veela. Not good. Come, come, Mrs. Na. I have something good for you." Madame Choi led Mrs. Na and Mr. Na walked into her office.

The Headmaster cleared his throat as he picked up the parchment from the floor.

Apparently, the sender was an anonymous girl who was angry that her boyfriend dumped her for Jaemin. Well, getting angry is certainly not enough to describe what she did because not only is Jaemin now lying in the hospital to _regrow_ his flesh, but Xiaojun, who was forced to sleep after repeatedly trying to bang his head against the wall out of guilt.

Even though he ended up attending the third class, Jeno couldn't concentrate at all. Renjun for the first time clearly ignored Professor Carmaulle and reading a Herbology book about plants that could cure the effects of the Curse Ball.

Chenle even ran from his class at the Astronomy Tower just so he could meet Jeno and Renjun in the hallway between classes. He looked like was crying before and Jeno was only able to calm him down without telling the whole story. However, its not just the three of them who were feeling nervous. By noon, the whole castle already knew what had happened. All of the professors grumbled with displeasure at this news while all the students were busy whispering.

Even Madame Choi looked frustrated when she was intercepted by Professor Finneus for the third time. Her voice roared within the Great Hall. "Well, Professors, if you'd keep asking me about him, I will gladly tell you the truth: we didn't have enough knowledge and capacity to treat every possible wound that gonna happen to Na Jaemin. Not just because he has slightly different metabolism than us, but I swear I would do anything just to keep him away from any of this horror! This is ridiculous and evil!"

Jeno was shaking in his desk before getting up to head towards the Hospital Wing. Renjun and Chenle followed him hastily.

“Hyung, we won't be able to meet Nana. Madame Choi is in the Great Hall and she looks angry."

“I don't care, Chenle. I-I can't let him..."

"Jen." It was Renjun's words that made Jeno finally slow down his steps to a complete stop. When Renjun and Chenle stood in front of him, they immediately hugged Jeno when they realized the boy's tears streamed down his cheeks.

"He is the most amazing person I've ever met. One of the kindest too. Why him? Why?" Jeno remembered their date at Hogsmeade two days ago and Jaemin's smile, his tears couldn't stop flowing.

-

At the end of the day, only Mr. and Mrs. Na who was allowed to visit Jaemin. The two of them are eager to bring Jaemin to St. Mungo for further inspection and medication but both Jaemin and the Headmaster rejected this. Mrs. Na hysterically explains how she will never be able to let Jaemin out of her sight anymore, but the Headmaster seems to offer an irresistible option.

Even though he heard that Jaemin could at least speak to refuse his transfer of treatment to St. Mungo, Jeno still can't calm down. He ended up fidgeting and thinking about writing Jaemin a letter which he knew would end in vain because of course no one else could approach Na Jaemin at this time. Especially something that dropped from an owl.

It wasn't until the next day, the Headmaster made an important announcement at breakfast.

"Due to the recent incident, we are taking steps to stop the circulation of letters until the attackers are found. This means that there are no more owls every breakfast or tucking letters and gifts to anyone. Anyone with a strong interest in contacting the outside world can contact Professor Finneus. I rely on the prefect to make sure no one breaks this rule.”

Although some of the student seemed to be protesting this order, the majority of everyone returned to whispering.

“…Do you think they can catch the culprit? I heard they made the Curse Ball themself."

"…Justin Dunney was walking down the hall to the Hospital Wing last night-no, he swore to me that he _wasn't_ trying to visit Na Jaemin-when he heard Jaemin's screams and his mother's cursing."

"…Whatever Madame Choi did must be very painful."

Jeno felt that he could go crazy hearing all that and it wasn't his fault that his hearing functioned really well, even for a vampire. He could overhear Professor Jung discussing the trap for the culprit with Professor Teddy Lupin at the end of the teacher's desk, even the sound of robes rubbing against the bench as students approached each other to exchange opinions. Luckily Chenle squeezed his clenched fist. He smiled sadly.

-

Jeno was still in a wave of discomfort until the next day, the one and only Na Jaemin showed up at breakfast in his glory: Slytherin's new looking robe and pink hair. Everyone had clearly stopped breathing and Xiaojun dropped the cutlery with a loud clang.

Apart from the bandaged ring finger of his right hand, there was no sign that he had just lost his face yesterday. If Jeno may say, he looks even more handsome. Without a smile, he sat beside Xiaojun who was hugging him. Chenle immediately rushed to his side and Jeno growled softly realizing that he couldn't possibly do the same thing even though he was as worried as Chenle (if its not much more).

“Hyung! Your hair!" Chenle squealed as Jaemin let go of their hug.

"You like it, Lele?" Jaemin asked.

"I thought you were still..."

"My mum bring her own medicine so I recover faster," Jaemin explained briefly. He ate his breakfast heartily, ignoring everyone's attention with his new appearance after the terrible incident in the corridor.

As soon as breakfast finished, he was intercepted by Renjun and Jeno.

"Hey," said Renjun, his face still filled with worry. "We were just about to visit you, Nana. Are you okay?"

“Very well. Apart from been missing classes,” Jaemin smiled bitterly at the end of his sentence. He glanced at Jeno for a moment before returning to look at Renjun.

"Oh, we can help you with that. Come to the Astronomy Tower tonight. We can study together. Is that right, Jen?" for the first time, Jeno entered the conversation. This time Jaemin didn't hide his gaze, he was clearly smiling at Jeno.

Feeling that his voice was about to break due to his emotional overflow, Jeno could only nod. _I miss you, Nana._

“Great! See you later, then."

-

It was only for the next few days that Jeno received the effects of the post delay. He couldn't receive any news or anything from his house and even though Jeno insisted that it was tolerable, he couldn't lie to the condition of his own body.

Not only Jaemin, Jeno also has a different metabolism from ordinary humans. Only the slightest. Once a month, he needs blood to support the various activities he does (mostly learning like crazy and practicing quidditch non-stop). This he got in an unpleasant way, namely during his first quidditch match against Gryffindor. He didn't know what made him lose consciousness in the middle of a match. Lee Taeyong was drag him on a broomstick. Misunderstanding his symptoms with fatigue and nervousness, Jeno's parents ended up trying their _old way_.

Sure enough, Jeno felt refreshed after finishing two bags of blood from what Mr. Lee called with a "blood transfusion center" in the muggle world.

Jeno was already a few days late from his schedule and his activities didn't lighten up (his energy was mainly drained from worrying about Jaemin). He was very tired after his last class, and fell fast asleep in bed, skipping dinner just like that.

"Lee Jeno."

Jeno groaned before opening his eyes. He saw the face of Lee Minho, his roommate.

"Hm?"

“Are you okay? You skipped dinner,” Minho asked, watching Jeno who was still wearing his uniform.

"Just a little bit tired," Jeno muttered while sitting down. The dread was unbearable.

"I'm sure after reading this you will be much better," Minho smiled broadly before continuing. "Na Jaemin came over to me after dinner, asked me to give you this." He held out a folded piece of parchment towards Jeno. From his tone, Jeno knew Minho would have read whatever was written there.

_Meet me at the Astronomy Tower 8 pm. –Nana_

Jeno groaned again, this time because of a combination of dizziness and an unpleasant taste that was sticking up in his stomach. He couldn't help but wonder what made Jaemin want to meet him.

"Well, I'm not feeling good right now. Can you tell him that? "

Minho looked at Jeno in disbelief. “You refuse to meet Na Jaemin? Are you insane?"

Jeno shook his head exasperatedly. He shouldn't even meet anyone now. He doubts he can survive his classes tomorrow with his current conditions.

"Please?"

"Bud, even if I want to, I can't. Jaemin must be on the way to the Astronomy Tower by now.”

"Ugh, I'll send the owl then..."

"You knew we couldn't do that."

"What?"

"Send anything via owl. Especially to Na Jaemin."

It took Jeno a few seconds before he could fully access this situation. He got up immediately from his bed. But suddenly his body gasped because of the hard crush on the back of his head. Jeno's gaze felt dizzy before becoming more and more focused. Now he could see moths on his desk, even the moth's flapping wings.

"Oh, shit. You really sick, man. Just rest, then. Or should I take you to Madame Choi?"

Jeno shook his head, put his foot into his shoe and ran outside without heeding Minho's worried calls. He galloped through the common room, ignoring the questioning glances of his housemates. His breath shortened as he climbed the stairs that seemed endless. On a typical day, Jeno can even jump several steps at once without difficulty. But this is Jeno's weakest condition.

Panting, even without breaking a sweat, Jeno pushed open the door and threw himself into the classroom. He fell heavily to the floor.

"Jeno!" Jaemin who was waiting immediately ran over and helped Jeno sit down. "What is wrong?" He held Jeno's cheeks with both hands, making them stare at each other.

“N-Nana… you're not supposed to be here…” Jeno tried to speak.

"Jeno, you are freezing!" Jaemin shrieked noticing that Jeno's body was much colder than usual. It seemed as if he had touched the ice which would crack at any moment. Jaemin quickly took off his robe and tucked it around Jeno's shoulders, revealing his thin blue shirt.

“No! Nana, go!” Jeno grabbed Jaemin's wrist, forcing him to look at Jeno.

Jaemin's eyes widened noticing that Jeno's pupil turned red.

"Jen...?"

“What is this smell… oh, _fuck_. Nana. Stay away. Just… go! Go!!” Jeno noticed Jaemin's bandaged fingers gave off a smell he shouldn't smell at a time like this. His lips trembled when he saw the tiny speck of blood there.

"Jeno?" Jaemin froze at the realization that Jeno got up quickly, stretching the distance between them, looking so scared. Never before had he seen Jeno scared.

"GO AWAY, JAEMIN!"

He didn't sound angry at Jaemin, but seemed to hold something inside himself and looked very worried about Jaemin. Jaemin turned his head and realized they were completely alone in the room. Nor did there appear to be any danger. So he stepped closer, making Jeno hysterically jump backwards and hit the table.

“No! No, Nana. Listen to me! Go! Right now. I-I can't... I can't handle my-my..."

“Jen, calm down please. I'm here. Its okay. Just breath…” Jaemin tried to calm him down, still stepping closer.

This time, tears rolled down Jeno's cheeks. He shook his head quickly, his hands covering his head. “Jaemin… no. Y-you don't understand… I can't be with anyone right now… I haven't drink it… I'm afraid I'm gonna hurt you if y-you're not going right now. Please, Jaemin-ah… I can't bare to see you hurt again. J-just go. Do me a favor and… and go. Quick. Please." He moaned under his breath when he realized his fangs were extending.

Jaemin slowly connected what Jeno meant with his twitching actions when he saw Jaemin's wound.

“J-Jen… are you…” Jaemin tried to speak, but he couldn't guess anything. He doesn't want to.

“Yes, Jaemin! I'm a monster who needs blood! Please go…” Jeno sobbed, his knuckles turning white so tightly he pulled his hair to hold back.

“Oh, no, Jeno. I'm not going." Jaemin said sternly. Jeno seemed so weak and vulnerable now. He liked Jeno too much to leave. Quickly he cut the distance between them, sat on the table and caught Jeno's waist with both legs. Jeno hands frustratingly pushed Jaemin's body and he held back his scream. But his strength evaporated and his desire slowly took over. This made it easier for Jaemin to make them face to face so close that his breath hit Jeno's face.

"Me." He held Jeno's cheeks. Slowly he leaned his forehead against Jeno's forehead, trying to calm Jeno who was still crying and pushed Jaemin with his last drop of energy.

“Jeno. Me." Jaemin, not knowing how to say this, decided he could show it better. He removed his hands from Jeno's cheeks, and he unbuttoned his shirt quickly.

"W-what..."

“Me, Jeno. Come on." Jaemin tugged at the sleeve of his shirt, one shoulder now exposed, revealing flawless white skin on his chest and broad shoulders. Jeno was flabbergasted, his tears immediately stopped.

"You crazy, Jaem... I-I can't..."

“You can and you will. I give you my permission, Jen." Jaemin's gaze was firm, staring at Jeno even behind the red bead of his eyes. Jeno shook his head hard, but Jaemin chuckled and linked his hands behind Jeno's neck, bringing them closer again. Jeno could feel how strongly Jaemin's legs were hugging his waist.

"Nana..."

“I trust you, Lee Jeno. With my live. Everything. You can suck my blood dry and I still believe in you. You can't change that, Jeno. Now, please stop being selfless and help yourself." Jaemin kissed Jeno's temples gently. He nodded reassuringly one last time while looking into Jeno's eyes.

Jeno didn't know whether it was the sound of the wind, moon, or fairies in front of him. Jaemin always looks ethereal, but now… Jeno can't find any words to describe Jaemin. Even his world never quite describes Jaemin. All this time, Jaemin was always out there: hanging stars, dimming the sun, or drying up the oceans, something inexplicable and impossible. But now Jaemin is standing in front of him, offering himself with the reason Jeno didn't know. Or don't want to know, because his head is still dizzy and he's never been this thirsty before.

"Nana."

Jeno kissed Jaemin's jaw, slowly continued his kiss to Jaemin's neck, resulting in a muffled sigh from Jaemin. Jeno stopped at the base of Jaemin's neck, swallowed hard. He glanced at Jaemin who had closed his eyes, not in the least bit scared. He felt Jaemin grabbing his hair slowly and Jeno stuck his fangs into Jaemin's skin.

Jaemin sighed with satisfaction, let out a deep breath as if to say: _after all of this_. His chest heaved and fell due to the stinging feeling as Jeno slowly sucked the blood. But he didn't complain. Instead, he stroked Jeno's neck while his other hand was still gently grabbing Jeno's hair. Its _amazing_ , Jaemin's eyes rolled back as Jeno's lips moved slowly against his skin. As Jeno's one hand embraced his waist and the other stroked his back, Jaemin again let out a sigh from the bottom of his throat.

Jeno growled at this, his palms met Jaemin's bare skin. Jaemin's blood was warm and for the first time Jeno realized how cold his body was compared to the average human body. His senses did not meet the iron taste at all, on the contrary, Jaemin's blood—like his whole self—was sweet, flowing quietly in his mouth, becoming one with him. _Oh oh_. Jeno never felt this way before. Drinking Jaemin's blood straight from his body was more beautiful than anything Jeno had ever experienced.

Especially when Jaemin gave his whole body to Jeno, he was not at all surprised by his body temperature and hands comforting Jeno. Jaemin was not his prey, even though Jaemin is pretty sure happy about that. Jaemin is someone Jeno loves, and he knows he will stay that way for a long time.

It took all his energy and life for Jeno to finally lick the wound at the base of Jaemin's neck. He pulled his teeth out, making Jaemin shudder. The wound at the base of Jaemin's neck was shaped like two small holes and was still bleeding a little, making Jeno press it with his robe.

Jeno pulled Jaemin's wand from the pocket of the robe attached to his shoulder, then swung it at the wound, causing the blood to stop in an instant.

“I-I have this…” Jaemin took out something from his pocket. A plaster. Jeno opened it and attached it to Jaemin's wound. Slowly he smoothed Jaemin's shirt, fastened the buttons until Jaemin's hand grasped his.

“H-how is it, Jen? Feel better?" Jaemin asked hopefully.

Jeno looked at the dazzling face in front of him. His dizziness and thirst had completely disappeared, even though he was sure he had not drank two bags of blood as usual.

"The best," Jeno hugged Jaemin, rested his chin on Jaemin's shoulder while sighing calmly.

"I love you." Jaemin hugged him tightly back.

Jeno seemed to be crying when he heard that. He knew his voice was trembling when he said, “I love you too,” but he didn't care. Jaemin was in front of him, helping him, saying that he loved him. He couldn't ask for more than this.

After a moment of pleasant silence, Jeno pulled himself back to face Jaemin even though his hands were still hugging Jaemin's waist.

“You need to eat. A lot."

Jaemin giggled, hug Jeno's neck tighter and made their noses touch. He didn't respond to Jeno's words and kissed the tip of the man's lips. Jeno's body was not as cold as before.

"Stop. I can't resist to kiss you if you do that." Jeno frowned.

"Jeno," Jaemin shook his head. "I fucking don't know what's stopping you..."

And Jeno kissed Jaemin's lips like he wanted to. Jaemin quickly kissed him back. There was a different tingling feeling from the blood that Jeno sucked from Jaemin's neck. His lips seemed to feel the color from Jaemin's lips: pink. Jaemin's lips flushed red and burned him to ashes. But before either of them opened their mouths to deepen the kiss, Jeno pulled his face away.

"Before we continue, will you be my boyfriend?"

The next day, they had breakfast together and in an instant a wave of commotion appeared following the news that Lee Jeno and Na Jaemin were officially dating.

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy reading! I still hope I could update this regularly. But I thought I was kinda off yesterday. Hehe.
> 
> Tell me about what do you think? :3


	3. you are brilliant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark knows he screwed up when he realized that in order to breaking another people relationship (that still much in love) it means that he get to see them breaking their own souls. And its far from beautiful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're back in track now.

Quidditch season is back on.

Jeno returns to the field as co-captain of the Hufflepuff team. They were both Quidditch Cup and House Cup winners two years ago, but this didn't mean Daniel Kang, their quidditch captain, relaxed their training.

"They will underestimate us because we won two years ago. Guess what, we're back. Stronger. We're going to win again this year,” Daniel gave his speech after practicing. “I'll sneak into the kitchen after this. So wait in my room because I'll give you a stack of pies." He blinked at the end of his sentence. After changing clothes, the Hufflepuff team walked out of the changing room. Dinner time is still two hours away and Daniel is already running into the kitchen.

"Jeno!"

Jeno turned his head to find Haechan approaching him. He let his friends get ahead of him.

"Hi," Haechan says when he stops in front of Jeno.

"Hi, Haechan."

"I saw your practice today. Good job,” Haechan smiled.

"Thank you. You don't need–"

"I'm sorry for bothering you but can I ask you a favor?"

"You need my help?" Jeno asked with raised eyebrows unexpectedly.

"Yeah. I just finished my Potion essay but I don't know who could review it. So, I hope you could… you know, read and give me some input? My grades aren't improving and I'm afraid my essay won't be enough."

"Are you sure?"

Haechan nodded. "I really need your help since you're the best at Potion in our year. And well, Huang Renjun. But I don't know him. I'm sorry. You must be busy."

“I'll do it for you."

Haechan's face lifted, his smile expanding. "Really?"

“You said your grades didn't improve, right? Well, I can help you with that. I know how it feels.” Jeno smiled, remembering Jaemin who always complained while studying.

“I don't think you know that, Jeno. You're the smartest student I've ever met,” Haechan tried to joke.

Jeno chuckled. "Stop praising me. Meet me at the library in an hour?"

"Sure!"

They sat in a corner of the library an hour later. Jeno read Haechan's essay seriously, making Haechan who was sitting beside him feels nervous. _How can he be so handsome?_ Jeno's hair fell over his forehead and his eyes were focused on reading line after line of Haechan's work.

"I think you did a good job, Haechan-ah," Jeno looked up after reading for fifteen minutes. “You just need to add wolfsbane. Over here,” Jeno pointed at Haechan's parchment.

"Oh, it's no wonder I felt something was forgotten. It's an important ingredient and how can I just skip it?” Haechan sighed, glad he could lie easily. "I'm sorry I'm so bad at this."

Jeno laughed softly. "No you're not. You're better than the people I worked with in Potions class.”

This time Haechan laughed at that. "Of course. I haven't blown up my cauldron and injured my assistant teacher."

Jeno laughed again and Haechan's heart warmed to realize how much Jeno laughed today. This was the first time she and Jeno had talked about more than greetings and little bit small talk as they passed in the hallway.

“You're very nice, Lee Jeno. Thank you,” Haechan said sincerely.

Jeno scratched his neck, impressed by Haechan's sincere words to him. "I-is that so?"

Haechan nodded. "Yeah. I hope to get good grades in Potions although I doubt it will improve my grades overall. I'm having a hard time studying."

Jeno stared at Haechan for a moment before returning to his book. "You want me to help you?"

"Oh," Haechan looked surprised. "I'm sorry. I'm just talking, no need to think about it."

“Sometimes I'm having a hard time studying too. Its nice to have someone who can help you when you feel... unsure." Jeno's eyes stared at the bookshelf.

“I don't know if you ever feel that way, Jeno. I thought you always like study,” said Haechan guiltily.

“I admit its boring and I can't focus sometimes. Its just too much, I know. But I still need to study, it's different from Renjun, who I think has a very brilliant memory and brain."

“I always wonder how you keep your marks between your quidditch practices which I know is never easy. Daniel Kang may seem playful but he is very frightful on a broomstick."

Jeno laughed softly. "Yes. And quidditch. I think about quitting sometimes."

Haechan immediately opened up his mouth and exclaimed, “nooooo! You can't do that!"

It immediately produced a hiss from the librarian, but Haechan doesn't care. He lowered his voice, "why?"

“Sometimes it's too time-consuming and tiring. I'm not good with people, so I always come home tired more than usual after training or matches."

“And you let that control you? I mean, you're one of the best player I've ever seen. Your moves remind me about Romanovska."

Now it was Jeno's turn to laugh, a little surprised. “I love Joan Romanovska. You watch quidditch too?"

Haechan nodded excitedly. “See. When I first saw you, I thought that your kick is somewhat familiar…”

And there you have it, the conversation that is rolling faster than usual

-

Jaemin has never had a problem with his house before.

People always thought the Slytherin house was so gloomy because it was underground, always looking damp and cold. Jaemin has a hard time sleeping on his first day at Hogwarts but he suspects all new students will too. In fact he adapted faster, liking his room and roommates on a daily basis.

Jaemin has visited the common room of all dormitories (the result of his mischief with Xiaojun in their first year) and indeed sometimes he was jealous of the height of the Gryffindor house, the warmth of the Hufflepuff house, and the comfort of the Ravenclaw house, but when he lay his tired body on the bed and pulled the curtain to cover his bed, he always felt he was in the best place in the world.

Xiaojun would only laugh and answer that because Jaemin really likes to lie on the bed, both for sleeping and just reading his muggle magazine. But for Jaemin, there is a special atmosphere that makes him really feel at home in his room. He really couldn't hear anything from outside, except for a very heavy rain. Once the door was closed, he always felt isolated from the outside world and Jaemin found himself loving that feeling, especially in his first and second year when people still showered him with attention (he also didn't have to worry about owls coming into his room all the time).

Today, Jaemin opened his eyes, stunned a little when he realized he was fast asleep until dinner time.

"You up?" Xiaojun asked while wearing his shoes on his bed which was located in front of Jaemin's bed.

"I didn't mean to sleep... _oh, no_." Jaemin immediately got up. He replaced his white uniform with a t-shirt before putting on his robe again and grabbing the bag on his desk.

“I have a study date. Shit. I'm late."

"Be careful!" Xiaojun exclaimed, letting Jaemin rush out.

Jaemin quickly ran to the library. He was worried about letting Jeno wait too long. He breathed a sigh of relief seeing Jeno, Renjun, and Chenle still studying where they usually sat.

"Nana!" Chenle said quietly. "Where have you been?"

"Sorry," Jaemin said while sitting next to Jeno, he caught his breath. "I just fell asleep."

“Only fifteen minutes left until dinner time. Hurry up and do your Charms essay,” said Renjun, who was already tidying up his book.

"Oh, no," Jaemin groaned as he leaned back. He felt tired. His stomach was hungry and his task was untouched.

"Just work on it, Nana. I will wait for you,” said Jeno.

Jaemin shook his head. "Well. I think I'm not gonna submit that. "

"Again?" Jeno raised his eyebrows.

"Hyung, you can't just come to Professor Lupin and get away with it," Chenle hissed, feeling amused at the revelation.

"You did what?" Renjun gaped.

“Just once,” Jaemin avoided Jeno and Renjun's gaze. There was silence before he gave up, "okay, maybe sometimes."

"How often is that _sometimes_ , Jaemin?"

Jaemin gulped, but refused to be intimidated and folded his arms across his chest. "You know..." he shrugged.

"I can't believe you release your magic to our teacher," Jeno commented flatly.

“No! They are great wizards, Jen, of course they won't be _eaten up_ by my Veela-blood."

"Oh, so you implied you've done something other than just showed up in front of them?" Renjun grinned.

"Yes. I speak."

Chenle rolled his eyes, still unable to believe Jaemin could get away with it.

"Open you book," Jeno voice came sternly.

Jaemin looked closely at his boyfriend's face, but he didn't see a smile there. Jeno waited.

"But I want to eat dinner..." Jaemin said quietly.

"You need to write that essay, I'm gonna accompany you," Jeno said in a final tone. Jaemin's shoulders slumped.

"We'll bring food, then. Come on, Chenle." Renjun left his bag and grabbed Chenle's hand.

“Hyung, don't be too hard. I know you're tired too." Chenle patted Jeno's shoulder before leaving.

Hearing this, Jaemin felt bad. Jeno was just finished his quidditch practice and he looked tired. But there he sat, waiting for Jaemin to take out his book and open the parchment.

"Sorry, Jen."

Jeno sighed. He won't be mad at Jaemin. Not when Jaemin's eyes looked sad and he held his lips from pouting. Jaemin always looks cute and Jeno is always charmed.

"Its okay, baby."

Jaemin, who because of Jeno's simple words, immediately looked cheerful and opened his book excitedly.

-

Mark runs into Haechan while they are on night duty around the castle. They decided to do the task at the same time, ignoring the painting's questioning glances by waving their hands quickly toward the Astronomy Tower.

“Think about it, Mark! I know you're brilliant, not just in Potions class. Everybody knows that Ravenclaws in your year are so humiliating you. You should be able to use that to your advantage, _ours_.” Haechan assured.

Mark closed his robe tightly, feeling a little bit cold. “But it's illegal, Haechan. I mean, imagine what would happen if they found out. And, it's useless because Jaemin is not gonna affected by Amortentia."

"If you don't want to make it for Jaemin... can you make it for me?"

"Why should I?" Mark frowned, knowing well it would even bother him. One of the ways that been keeping Mark stays in his first position every year is to not let others interfere and control him. "You said you were irresistible enough to seduce Lee Jeno."

"Meanie," Heachan hit Mark's chest and Mark laughed.

Haechan smiled. They paused for a moment at the turn of the stairs, leaning against the wide louvres of the window, letting their eyes wander out. To the empty courtyard, to the untouched Forbidden Forest.

"Are you okay?" Haechan asked quietly.

"What?"

Haechan shrugged for a moment. His face was slightly flushed considering that he had a new routine with Jeno now. Mark smiled subconsciously at him. “You have liked Jaemin for years. I mean, you are not the only one who broken hearted. There are dozens of people here lined up for him, but I know your feelings are different. He's so special to you and this is more than just a crush. I know because I do too, to Jeno. That's why I offer… this agreement.”

Mark sighed. As Haechan reminded them of their intentions, he couldn't help feeling helpless. Since last year, he has given up all his feelings for Jaemin. _Train yourself to be happy with what they have and what they don't_. He focused on the job position he wanted at the Ministry.

"May I know...?" Haechan whispered. He moved his position so that he was only an inch away from Mark. Mark just looked out the window, refraining himself from blinking too much because of the sudden awkwardness.

“You are cute,” Haechan smiled.

Mark chose not to answer Haechan's last remark. Instead, he turned his body against the window so that his shoulder barely touched Haechan's chest. But he has entered into his memory lane.

“In my third year… my father died. My life doesn't change, but there is a big hole in my mother's life which of course affects me. I guess we just mutually agreed to let things flow, improve ourselves. I guess nothing has changed since I was even at Hogwarts all year. I didn't realize that I lost myself. Slowly. I studied so hard that my body gave up. Jaemin cared for me and he is the one who saved me."

It just feels like yesterday. Jaemin visited him, brought him food, and knitted a scarf for him. A simple gesture filled with sincerity, considering that Mark never really interacted with the younger at that time. Jaemin said he was only nice to his seniors. Once Mark was completely healthy, Jaemin took the time to chat with him in the common room every night. Forcing Mark to sleep early and tidying up Mark's books.

"I thought he was being nice because he wanted to be friends."

"Well, you are stupid, then." Haechan's voice brought him up from his reverie.

Mark let out a soft laugh. "Yeah. Yukhei keep telling me that. Until now."

Haechan shook his head, realizing that the boy in front of him was not only timid, but also a little sensitive. Gradually he understood that Mark was protecting himself by building an impenetrable defense around him. Unfortunately, Mark only allowed one person to enter and that person is now out of reach.

"Did you know I took a Muggle Study to understand him better?"

Haechan's mouth opened slightly at that. " _No way._ But you have no intention to approach him!"

Mark continued, “Jaemin told me he would rather live in the muggle world. People would stop as he passed because he had Veela-blood, but in the muggle world the reaction could be even worse. He loves the attention and of course his life becomes easier when he can ask everyone to do what he wants. In the wizarding world, he must learn to become a wizard because people always say that he is not talented. Whatever he does, people will only see his beauty and that's when Jaemin stopped trying. I helped him to put in a little effort because I hated seeing him being treated unfairly… other than because yes, I liked him.” Mark smiled at the end of his sentence.

“Holy shit, man. You're in deep,” Haechan shook his head, but quietly he listened carefully to Mark's words. He just found out about this and it's actually quite scary seeing Mark end up telling everything about Jaemin.

“I'm not going to force you to make Amortentia for me, Mark. Maybe I could buy them from Weasley, though they say the potions there are of course just toys. But I can try, who knows Jeno is stupid enough to accept something from me and eat it,” Haechan tried to lighten up the mood.

Both of them laughed. The atmosphere around them started to lift. Haechan asked Mark to continue their exploration that night and they went downstairs, back into the corridor to return to their respective dorms.

"Thank you, Mark, for sharing this. You are a very good person. I regret I couldn't be there for you, you know… like Jaemin did. But you have me now." Haechan embraced Mark's shoulder for a moment.

Mark smiled. "No take backs?"

"What is a take backs?" Haechan teased before laughing and walking away, leaving Mark who was back on his way to his cold dormitory underground. For now, they seems to forgot about what their talk should be and left with smiles in their faces.

 _He is cute indeed_ , Haechan could feel his face blushed red. _Ugh_ , another twist in his stomach. He shook his head while taking the stairs. "I even forget to ask Mark to give me some good luck for my study date tomorrow." 

-

Jeno is taken aback.

He didn't expect Haechan to take his invitation to study seriously. But when he saw that Haechan was already sitting in one of the most comfortable corners in the library with a stack of Potions books and a few bottles of potion ingredients that he could carry, he thought Haechan seemed to be really serious about improving his grades.

"Oh, wow," Jeno couldn't help commenting and sat down beside Haechan.

“Is it enough? Do you want to change place?" Haechan asked, a little bit worried.

“No, its… fine. You did great."

Haechan smiled.

"How is your day?"

“Good. How about yours?"

"Same." _Better, because I'm meeting you now._ Haechan looked at Jeno who took out his books and arranged them nicely beside Heachan's books.

"Shall we start?"

Haechan snapped out of his reverie and nodded. "Yes."

-

Jaemin couldn't raise his head.

He knew he was in his own common room and he was used to attention. But now those views turned a little cruel. He quickly left the basement and was grateful to see Chenle chatting with a Gryffindor boy in the yard.

"Lele-ya!" Jaemin called.

Chenle turned his head and waved at him.

“Hyung! Where are you going?"

“Nowhere. Just… looking for you,” Jaemin muttered when he arrived beside Chenle.

"Uh-huh, right. The little birdie told me that Professor Carmaulle almost took 50 points from Slytherin because you tried to 'talk' to him about your late paper."

Jaemin raised his hand, giving up. “Great. Now everyone knows,” he threw himself on the grass.

Chenle giggled with amusement before realizing that his friend was still in front of them. "Oh, hyung! This is–"

“Jisung Park! Nice to meet you, finally!” Jaemin's face turned cheerful and smiled towards the boy in front of Chenle. The lanky-boy hurriedly lowered his gaze from Jaemin's face and nodded.

"Y-yeah. Nice to meet you, too…”

"Oh, you're handling it better than I did," Chenle commented.

"You're just bad at it, Lele-ya," Jaemin teased.

"Shut up!"

"What's ' _it_ '?" Jisung ventured to ask.

"The first time I saw Jaemin-hyung, I almost got a nose-bleed."

"Because he's too beautiful?" Jisung guessed, making Jaemin smile brightly at him.

"No. Because Seungmin in front of me got startled and stopped in the middle of the stairs. I hit my head on his back then fell down on my ass!" Chenle described his first meeting with Jaemin in a fiery atmosphere.

Jisung laughed at that. So did Jaemin, who had heard the story dozens of times.

"Poor you. But its cute. You are always cute," said Jisung.

Chenle's face is slightly flushed (something even Jaemin can rarely do) and Jaemin blossoming to seeing them.

"Ugh, thanks, Ji," Chenle snorted, pretending not to be affected by Jisung's words. He turned back to Jaemin. "So, I guessed you're the most wanted person in your house now."

Jaemin remembered the gaze of a group of third-year girls who rolled their eyes at the sight and sighed. "Yeah. Not to mention I should re-do my essat and submitted another assignment. Ugh, I hate it."

"Why don't you ask Jeno-hyung?" Chenle asked.

“He's been busy. Studying, practicing, and tutoring. All of that jazz."

"Oh, that's true," Jisung suddenly chimed in when Chenle looked at Jaemin in a daze. “He's been tutoring one of the sixth year Gryffindor, Haechan Lee. I saw them earlier in the library."

Jaemin nodded, his hands fiddling with his shirt button.

"And you're okay with it?" Chenle looked at Jaemin in disbelief.

"Huh?" Jaemin was dumbfounded, clueless. "What? Should I'm not okay with it? Why wouldn't I–” Jaemin stared at Chenle and Jisung in turn.

“You do remember that Haechan Lee is the one who sent Jeno-hyung letter once in a while, right? The one who kept giving Jeno-hyung gifts?” Chenle asked carefully.

For a moment no one knew what Jaemin was thinking until his eyes widened as understanding entered his brain and he closed his mouth.

"Oh, no!"

"Oh my, you're so stupid," Chenle shook his head.

"Wait, what? Haechan-hyung gave Jeno-hyung gifts?" Jisung repeated in disbelief.

"Yeah, Jisung," Chenle replied quickly because Jaemin still looked surprised. “Since second grade. They're close friend in the letter. They never actually interacted with each other. I just know that Jeno-hyung is tutoring him,” Chenle glanced at Jaemin who suddenly got up.

"I have to go." Without saying a word, he ran off to the library.

"That's not good, isn't it?" asked Jisung timidly.

Chenle just let out a deep breath.

-

Jeno just walking out of the library when he heard a call.

"Jen!"

Jeno stopped his steps and looked at Jaemin who was now standing in front of him.

"You've been tutoring Lee Haechan?" As usual, Jaemin wasted no time in raising his questions. His lips formed a thin line and his hands clasped in front of his chest, a sign that he was ready to accept Jeno's explanation. What he didn't expect was Jeno who was glaring at him.

“50 points, Jaemin? Really?"

Jeno's reply was completely unexpected for Jaemin. His eyes widened and his hands pressed together at his sides as he swallowed hard.

“You knew…” he muttered softly, suddenly losing his voice. "Not entirely my mistake, though..."

"Yeah, Jaemin. You know that ' _speaking your way_ ’ with the professors called bribing, right? How long actually you've been doing that?"

Jaemin lowered his face, didn't dare to look at Jeno's face. Somehow, compared to the rumors and disdainful glances he received from other people, Jeno's disbelieving expression stabbed him even more.

"What, Jaemin?"

Jaemin was shocked to hear Jeno's demanding voice. "I don't... I don't remember..."

“Great. So you've been doing that all along. Are you really inconsiderate of my efforts to helped you, Jaemin?”

Every time Jeno said his name, the deeper Jaemin wanted to bury himself into the ground. “S-sorry, Jen. I just too overwhelmed, sometimes. You know, you're being a strict teacher and scolding me... I didn't-I didn't..."

“Fine. If that's what you want, I won't help you study anymore. I guess you'll find your way, though."

Jaemin looked at Jeno with a surprised expression. There was a flash in Jaemin's eyes which showed how hurt he was by Jeno's words. Jaemin bit his lip to hold back the trill on his chin.

He wanted to say: _I'm sorry if I'm so stupid_. But he didn't want to make Jeno feel guilty.

To see Jaemin like a sad puppy, Jeno actually couldn't afford to be stern and angry any longer. He wanted to hug Jaemin and comfort him because he knew that his boyfriend had faced a difficult day. But he still did not understand the actions that Jaemin was taking and he wanted to express his persistence.

"Sorry." That was all Jaemin could whisper before running away from Jeno, ignoring the older voice that calling him repeatedly.

-

The absence of Jeno's help means _no hope_.

Jaemin realized this as he did his best to work on the essay from his Transfiguration class and his DADA nonverbal spell essay. He couldn't ask for help Renjun who was much busier than Jeno considering that the oldest had more class than them.

Jaemin had been sitting by the fireplace in the Slytherin common room for two hours, ignoring the eyes of everyone who passed him and trying to focus on defining nonverbal spell and how to used them to fight dark magic. However, he just filled half the parchment and really wanted to pull his hair out. Jaemin wanted to cry.

"Jaemin."

Jaemin looked up and saw Mark Lee's smiling face at him. "Hi, Markie." Mark Lee has always been seen with at least a book. Like now.

"Studying?"

"Dying." Jaemin grinned, trying to cheered himself.

Mark laughed softly and sat beside him. "Can I see?"

"Sure. B-but its so bad and probably full with mistakes." Jaemin can't even read his work. Mark didn't say anything other than grabbing Jaemin's parchment and reading Jaemin's work. His glasses slid over the bridge of his nose and Jaemin straightened them.

"So you can see better," Jaemin smiled.

Mark tried to control his heartbeat and focused on Jaemin's essay. It's not that bad. There are a few things that need fixing and that's what Mark did.

“Thank you, Mark. Really." For the first time, Mark caught the tired look from Jaemin's smile.

"Are you okay, Jaem?" asked Mark quietly. He knows what happened to Jaemin yesterday and in fact, he feels sorry for Jaemin, who seems to have been ostracized by his own fellow students.

"Okay," Jaemin shrugged, then tried to correct his writing according to Mark's suggestion. Mark was only able to see Jaemin's quill move on the parchment. At least Jaemin's handwriting is pretty. He was ready to add the contents of Jaemin's work when he saw a drop of water falling on the parchment. Jaemin rubbed it quickly with his finger.

 _Oh no_. Mark's mind was spinning. He had never seen Jaemin cry before.

"Jaemin–"

“I know! I'm sorry!" Jaemin said hysterically, dropped his quill and covered his face. He took a deep breath to calm himself down, but did not hold back his emotions after the recent incident. “I'm always so dramatic. Jeno said it a hundred times." _Maybe he tired of me too._

"No, you are not." Mark stroked Jaemin's back. Feeling that several eyes were watching them from another corner of the room, Mark grabbed Jaemin's wrist and led him to his room. Luckily the room was empty. Of course Mark's friends chose to spend time outside to watch the Slytherin Quidditch team practice.

"Jaemin, can I hug you?"

Jaemin didn't answer, so Mark slowly put his hand around Jaemin's body. Jaemin's body stiffened for a moment before finally leaning against Mark's chest.

"I'm so stupid, Mark."

"You know that I'm the smartest person in my class, right?" Mark had never said anything like this before, but he wanted to cheer Jaemin up and this was the only way he knew. "So you have to believe me when I say that you are not stupid."

Jaemin snorted amusedly in the middle of his tears and Mark was grateful that it worked enough.

"So what? You are not always right."

Mark was stunned. He remembered the reason why he fell in love with Jaemin. Not when Jaemin looked so handsome when Yule Ball or when Jaemin changed his hair color. But when he innocently showed Mark that it was okay to feel hurt and wrong. When Mark was lying sick and Jaemin kept on visiting him, he was in the middle of an exam and cried incessantly at the fact that his condition had a huge effect on his exam.

But Jaemin just smiled. “You're allowed to sick, you know, Markie? You might not know this, but this is how your body screams when it need a rest. You deserved a rest. You've been doing well. Well, even if you're not doing well. But you deserved it. Don't go too hard on yourself, hm?"

At this time, Mark promised to repay Jaemin's kindness.

"You right," he muttered as he tightened his hug on Jaemin's body. Jaemin gave off warmth and Mark didn't want to let go. "But I'm smart. I'm not just said that. I will prove that."

Without loosening their hugs, Jaemin lifted his face, making Mark stare at him with his beautiful brown eyes. Jaemin looked clueless, at the same time cute with flushed cheeks and nose.

“Don't worry, Jaem. I'll help you so you know that you are not stupid. You are far from stupid."

_You're brilliant._

-

Haechan knew that his study date with Jeno completely changed the dynamic of their relationship. From the start, Jeno politely apologized if Haechan was uncomfortable with his reserved and introverted personality. Only recently, after they had gotten quite close to each other, Haechan had the courage to say something on that.

“Actually, I don't know why are you trying your best to avoid attention. I know not all of them are good but you're like a god or something. You can do anything, Jeno. You can befriends anybody."

Jeno just smiled slightly. “I don't know that, Haechan-ah. I'm too preserved, I guess. That's just… me."

"Well, you need to change, then. If I were you, I will befriend with every living and dead soul in this castle. They worshipped you, Jeno."

Jeno's face flushed slightly at Haechan's compliment which he felt was excessive. Haechan floweredly realizing he was one of the few who could change Jeno's expression.

"Really?"

"Hm!" Haechan replied firmly. As an extrovert, he never understood why a Lee Jeno decided to shut himself off to the outside world, often holding back from answering questions from their professors in class. If Haechan had the brains and good looks like Jeno, he would grab all the attention and have it.

“Too bad, then. I'm too comfortable with myself. And I don't know how."

Haechan felt he was too stupid to miss this opportunity. So he offered to help make Jeno more open in return for Jeno who helped him study. Although Jeno seemed skeptical, he agreed because on the other hand, he was quite curious about how Haechan would help him.

Being with Haechan is like approaching the sun.

He is like a magnet that attracts people's attention and is happy with the attention that other people give him. Its remind him about Jaemin, but Haechan are... much _warmer_. He never glared to anybody and he could talk with anybody about anything like he really knew them. Wherever Haechan is, people always approach them to just say hello or invite Haechan to have a brief chat. Jeno knows Haechan has extensive knowledge about many things, not only the world of magic, considering that he is of muggle descent.

Beside him, Jeno no longer felt like an ice. Its strange and kind of uncomfortable, but he tried to ignore it and embrace it fully.

-

"Are you guys okay?" Renjun asked, staring at Jeno and Jaemin alternately while they had breakfast.

"Yeah, cool."

"Of course."

Jaemin and Jeno answered simultaneously. But each other refused to look at each other even though they sat together as usual. Jeno still regrets Jaemin's actions, which he thinks are very irresponsible not only to Professor Carmaulle but also to him who always helps Jaemin study. Meanwhile Jaemin took the words of Jeno who said he would not help him seriously. Renjun was worried about him but Jaemin firmly replied that there was Mark Lee who was now helping him study every night and how Mark Lee was much more lenient than Jeno.

Mark stared at Jaemin in disbelief when Jaemin said that Jeno often forbade him to eat dinner to do his assingment. Although Jeno finally came with food, he brought a pile of vegetables that Jaemin didn't like. Jeno always said this was good for Jaemin's health. Mark promised not to force Jaemin in anything and that was enough for Jaemin. Instead of studying together, Mark completely dedicated time teaching him, making Jaemin fully concentrate because he knew Mark was busy too.

"I have to go." Jeno said as soon as he finished his breakfast. He rubbed Jaemin's hand on the table and nodded at Renjun and Chenle before leaving the Great Hall.

“Where the hell did he–” Renjun muttered confusedly.

Chenle nudged him in the ribs to stop him from speaking further. "You know where." That was all Chenle said. He glanced at Jaemin who was eating without looking at them.

"Ah! You right. I remember he told me yesterday he had a morning schedule now with Lee Haechan and his friends. They have a study group now. Can you believe it? Jeno having new friends! Friend with an 's'! I thought he's incapable of feeling so he barely make friend until he met you, Nana."

Chenle wanted to shut Renjun's mouth and throw him at the end of the hall. But before he could say anything, Jaemin got up from his chair. Seems so annoyed.

"I'm going. See you,” he said simply, grabbed his bag and walked away.

"Hyung!" Chenle glared at Renjun who was cursing himself. "They're in the middle of crisis right now and you're adding fuel to the fire."

"Sorry, Lele!" Renjun hissed as he stroked his forehead, feeling even worse than before.

-

Haechan was humming cheerfully. He will meet Mark in front of the Charm classroom, which is a little warm than the other part of the castle, after doing his duty around the castle. After parting ways with the other two prefects who were his partners for the night, Haechan came to his meeting place.

Mark was already sitting on the bench, reading a book as usual. As soon as he heard Haechan steps, he closed his book and smiled.

"Thank you for waiting for me," said Haechan cheerfully.

“No problem,” as usual, Haechan's warmth crept fast inside Mark who was too gray.

"You've been busy, Mark?" asked Haechan. They were much closer than before.

"Just studying."

"And Jaemin?"

"And Jaemin," Mark nodded, a little embarrassed. He doesn't deny that he spends more time with Jaemin now that they have the same study schedule.

"Oh! I'm happy for you!" Haechan hugged Mark quickly. “Me too, actually. I have plenty of time with Jeno almost everyday."

"Yeah, I saw you," Mark smiled awkwardly. Somehow the image of Jeno and Haechan chatting in the corridor earlier made him a little uneasy and his stomach felt cold.

"Really? So you see how we got closer, right?” but Haechan looked at him expectantly, making Mark try to get rid of his discomfort and smile.

"I'm happy for you." _Lie._

Mark was stunned as his conscience said so clearly. But Haechan didn't care anymore. The younger boy took something out of his robe and grabbed Mark's hand quickly.

“You've worked hard, Mark. You know with studying and anything. This is my gift for you. It will help to ease your worries."

Mark fell silent when he felt something circle his wrist. When Haechan finished, he could see a red bracelet with a black stone coiled in his hand.

"Why, Mark?" Haechan asked worriedly when Mark just kept silent.

"Its just... this is the first time you gave a gift and I don't have anything for you," Mark said, a little bit a pang of guilt in his heart.

"Hm, is that so? Well, I love giving gift. I've been wanting to give you this before but I never send you a package or letter before, so…” Haechan's face flushed at the end of his sentence. Somehow Mark's gaze made him feel something move in his stomach.

"You can send me gift," Mark said quickly.

"Really? Y-you want my gift?"

Nobody ever wanted Haechan's gift before.

"Yes. And your letter. We can't meet like this everyday, right? So just keep me updated. With letters. Everything." Mark put his hand on Haechan's shoulder.

Haechan lowered his face even more. He folded his lips to suppress a smile that threatened to just pop out. “S–sure. I will." He could only look up a few moments later because he didn't want to make it too obvious.

"Great." Mark smiled and his heart filled with warmth. For the first time, neither of them talked about Jeno or Jaemin.

-

How does everything feel so wrong?

Jaemin himself didn't know the beginning. Jeno will probably answer that this is due to Jaemin's attitude who doesn't want to put in the effort to study, no matter how many times Jaemin says that he doesn't have big ambitions like Jeno. _Oh,_ the difference.

Jaemin loves Jeno with all his heart, but he knows Jeno will be angry when he finds out about his deepest desires. A wish he could only share with Chenle, Renjun, and now Mark. Mark Lee who seemed to really understand Jaemin the last few days. It comes when Jaemin is in a bad mood whenever he sees Jeno with Lee Heachan or his other friends. Right. Jeno has other friends now. Friends who also love learning and quidditch. Unlike Jaemin who is not at all interested in classes and only enthusiastic about the quidditch if Jeno is the one who competes. Jaemin didn't understand how this all flowed as a dynamic rhythm in their relationship and now suddenly felt that there was a big big big ravine that separating them.

Something so subtle yet so clear no matter how close they were at breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Jaemin wonders if he just loves Jeno too much to realize this before.

Now when he sees Jeno being hugged in turn by the people who congratulated him after Hufflepuff won the quidditch match against Gryffindor, Jaemin can only wait until Jeno finally approaches him, Renjun, and Chenle.

"You're great, hyung!" Chenle shrieked. He wore Jeno's Hufflepuff scarf around his neck and smiled brightly.

"Yeah, yeah, the greatest," Renjun teased.

Jeno smiled at that compliment. _Jeno smiles more now_ , Jaemin thought. When they first dated, Jeno didn't smile much because he felt nervous and embarrassed. But now Jeno did not hesitate to smile at a group of Slytherin girls who were also watching not far from them. The girls shrieked and covered their mouths in whispers.

Jaemin swallowed hard. "You are amazing, babe." He leaned forward and kissed Jeno on the cheek. Jeno smiled wider and hugged Jaemin's waist, forgetting the tension that had been around them recently.

"Thank you, Nana. Did you see how I scored all the goals?"

Jaemin laughed at Jeno's child-like cheerfulness. He nodded and stroked Jeno's hair. _Its good. He should be happy like this everyday_. “Of course! You're the best! I don't know much about quidditch but you made Gryffindor keeper frustrated."

Jeno's eyes softened. Jaemin always tries to appreciate each match even though he doesn't know anything about quidditch. He expects Jaemin to praise his way of flying, avoiding bludgers, or breaking through enemy defenses, but he knows he shouldn't expect anything that isn't Jaemin from Jaemin.

"Thank you." He kissed Jaemin's temple. Jaemin's eyes caught something shiny on Jeno's chest.

“Jeno! Come on!" came the calls of Jeno's teammates. They're moving to the changing room. There, Jeno saw Haechan who was chatting intimately with Eli Crooks, the keeper of Hufflepuff. He seemed completely unfazed even though Gryffindor had just lost. He appeared to be jokingly threatening to hit Eli.

Jeno's smile widened even more seeing this.

"I'll see you later, okay?"

Jaemin knows this. He took a breath and held Jeno's hand who was about to leave.

“No, Jeno. Actually. I was wondering if we can hang out." _We never hang out for weeks, Jeno._

"Sure, Nana. Later? I need to see my team and friends. Lets hang out after dinner, okay?" said Jeno. But in an instant, he patted his forehead while cursing softly. “Actually, can we do that the day after tomorrow? I have another study session with my friends later and all day tomorrow. I promise we can hang out as you pleased the day after tomorrow, okay? Now I had to go. Bye!" Jeno waves at Chenle and Renjun before chasing his team.

Jaemin could only stare at his back blankly.

“Come on, Nana. Lets go. We can hang out,” Renjun, who took the initiative to embrace Jaemin because Chenle's eyebrows had knit together, seemed ready to pounce on Jeno.

"He wears it," Jaemin whispered darkly.

"What? What is 'it'?"

The pin. _From Lee Haechan_.

-

But two days later, Jeno then telling him that he couldn't hang out because suddenly his friends had a study agenda that he couldn't miss. The next day, Jaemin sat by the lake alone, fighting his tears as hard as he could because Jeno had now forgotten his promise to meet at the Astronomy Tower a few hours ago.

Jaemin doesn't want to hear excuses anymore. He's too tired. He was grateful that at least his study agenda with Mark didn't tie him at all like he did with Jeno before. Hell, Jeno will get mad if Jaemin misses their study agenda.

 _What the hell am I doing?_ Jaemin didn't know where he put himself in Jeno's life.

"Jaemin!"

Jaemin didn't need to be told to recognize the voice. He immediately got up and saw Jeno running over to him.

“Sorry! I forgot! Professor Carmaulle asked me to help him–” _Its okay, its not a big deal. Its our professor, anyway_ , Jaemin hopes Jeno will stop talking, but Jeno doesn't stop. “–And Haechan got a perfect score for Potion! Can you imagine that? After all of my–no, our–hardwork! So he asked me to go with him to the kitchen and we have a little–"

"Is that so?" Jaemin felt that his day was getting worse as Jeno said. "So you go with him?"

Jeno was silent, this time looking at Jaemin's gleaming eyes and his usual smiling face. "Nana? You're angry at me?"

"Answer me, Jeno."

"Yeah, of course. I can't reject that–"

"But you can canceled our hang out and forgot about me."

Jaemin's words made Jeno sigh. “Look, Jaemin. Please stop. "

"Stop what, Lee Jeno?" tears dripped from Jaemin's eyes.

"Oh, no, Nana. Come on. Don't cry,” Jeno was about to move closer but Jaemin backed off and wiped his tears roughly.

"Do I still have a place in your life, Jeno?" finally, he blurts out.

Jaemin's question made Jeno's forehead frown. "What are you talking about, Jaemin?" he tugged his hair, feeling a little bit frustrated. “You are my boyfriend! Why you'd ask such a question?"

“Because I felt like you forgetting me now. You haven't really talk to me for weeks. We're growing distant and its like we're getting deeper in this… mess. You have new friends and of course Lee Haechan is the one who will keep you company."

Jeno narrowed his eyes, couldn't believe Jaemin was asking himself this. "You don't like it when I have new friends?"

This time Jaemin didn't hold back his tears. “No! I never said that! All I say is that you–"

“You're so… dramatic. Its childish, Jaemin. Come on,” Jeno sighed.

Jaemin stopped his words. Jeno always said that to tease him or even to praise him sometimes. This was the first time Jeno said that as if it was a burden. Suddenly everything was clear in Jaemin's eyes.

"I see," Jaemin said after a moment of silence. A cold wind blew between them and Jaemin felt his vision foggy. The castle, the edge of the forbidden forest, the lake, and the grass surrounding the castle were so gray that he didn't know who to blame.

"And you're the one who doesn't talk to me," Jeno replied.

Jaemin wanted to hit Jeno's face who was now looking at him accusingly. Yet he wanted to laugh.

“You want me to talk to you? Fine." Jaemin nodded. “I got a perfect score in Transfiguration AND Potion. And no, I'm not 'spoke my way' to the professors. I studied. Hard. Oh, I started to gaining hate letter now. Xiaojun is the one who keeps them away from me. But I've been feeling terrible. I'm glad you're having fun, Jeno. At least one of us are happy."

Jeno fell silent to hear that. He just know about this and suddenly didn't know what to say.

"O-oh–"

Jaemin shook his head, snorted in disbelief. Without a word he grabbed his bag from the ground and dashed away. He ignored Jeno's call. Again.

And again, Jeno didn't go after him.

-

Mark was surprised to hear Jaemin sobbing in one of the locked toilets. He called Jaemin and Jaemin refused to meet him. Jaemin just apologized and asked him to leave. Before leaving, Mark made sure he cast the Muffliato spell in the bathroom.

His steps felt heavy when he got out of the bathroom. It was as if he had just remembered a dangerous and arduous task after deliberately forgetting about it for months. However, considering that he was in an agreement with Haechan, that was not entirely wrong.

Mark just didn't think that to be with Jaemin, he had to see Jaemin so hurt. Not only today. Mark knows Jaemin is often sad during their study sessions. Mark only dared to ask the reason once or twice. The rest, he let Jaemin overcome his own turmoil and make sure he was there for the younger.

But this afternoon, the unpleasant facts just hit Mark and he felt angry with himself. _Jaemin have been hurting. Because of Jeno which means because of me and Haechan._

Just as Mark turned around at the end of the hallway, he saw Jeno and Haechan chatting with their friends (it was strange seeing Lee Jeno hanging out with people other than Jaemin, Renjun, and Chenle) in the garden. Jeno looked relaxed, especially with Haechan's hand on his shoulder.

Suddenly Mark's chest churned.

_Jaemin is hurting right now while he just..._

Unable to control himself, Mark approached the group of students.

"Hi, Mark!" said Haechan.

"Hi." Mark waved doubtfully. "Haechan, can we talk?"

Haechan's brows slightly raised and everyone there looked at them.

"Uhm... I'm in the middle of discussion right now. Actually you can join us! You're smart so you–"

"Please?" cut Mark.

Seeing Mark who looked in distress while Haechan looked doubtful, Jeno frowned. Of course he knew Mark. But he didn't know if Mark and Haechan were close enough other than because of their position as a prefect from each houses.

"I'm sorry for chirping in. What is it, Mark? Can it wait?" Jeno asked impatiently.

They were indeed in the middle of a discussion about classes at Hogwarts when Mark arrived.

Mark's gaze suddenly darkened and Jeno was shocked to see the unfriendly aura Mark showed him.

“Not your business, Lee. I just want to talk to Haechan for a moment. Come on, Haechan-ah." Mark's gaze landed on Haechan's hand which was still perched on Jeno's shoulder. Haechan even gasped at Mark's cold tone. He was getting ready to rise when Mark letting his Slytherin traits jumped out and continued, "what are you doing here, actually? Your boyfriend is crying right now and you can be this happy?"

Mark's words hit Jeno badly. He got up slowly, removed Haechan's hand from his shoulder and approached Mark with a hardened face.

“He's crying? How did you–"

"I'm the one who have been helping him studying. He's struggling a lot. Thank you for your help, though. It really add something to his mental condition."

"What are you talking about, Mark?"

"Behave, kid," Mark replied fearlessly. "I'm your senior. Haechan, I will wait for you. Now." Mark let Jeno face the empty air with a quick turn.

"Jeno–"

"I have to find Jaemin." Jeno quickly got up and left, leaving the discussion between their friends just like that. Haechan stuttered to end the discussion before catching up with Mark.

“Mark! What the hell was that?" But Haechan stopped himself when he clearly saw what state Mark are in right now. Haechan had never seen Mark so angry. His jaw tightened, making his cheekbones protrude and his hands clenching into fists.

"Calm down, Mark–"

"Lets stop it, Haechan-ah," said Mark quickly. Haechan looked surprised but Mark continued, “I can't do this anymore. I can't be happy while destroying another people relationship. I'm sorry. Lets stop it, really."

Haechan didn't answer for a moment. They let the roar of the wind and the chirping of birds fill the void.

"You love him so much, hm?" Haechan let out an unpleasant lump from his throat without daring to look at Mark. "You don't want him to hurt."

"Well, no one wants another people to hurt, Haechan."

"Really?" This time Haechan looked at Mark, tears welled up and Mark fell silent. "Because I'm hurting right now. This is the only thing I truly want. We even got closer because of this. We're this far, Mark. They're breaking up soon."

“They are hurting right now, Haechan. And its awful. Not just for them. But for us. We didn't deserve this. We can do better than this."

"Well I don't care!" Haechan shrieked. He couldn't accept the fact that Mark has been spitting. “You can't just agreed to my plan and proceed to destroying it after I'm this close to my goal. Admit it, Mark, you just jealous because me and Jeno are having a really good progress mean while Jaemin is still crying his heart out."

Mark couldn't believe this when he heard these words coming out of Haechan. Rather than getting hurt, he felt that someone as good as Haechan would never say something like this.

"I'm wrong," Mark nodded gravely. “You're not that kind. I'm not saying this because I like Jaemin, Haechan. I hope you could empathyze to another people feeling. But I know its seems unfair to you."

Haechan wiped his tears harshly. Mark ventured to grab Haechan's hand and grasped it. “I care for you, Haechan-ah. I don't want you to get hurt."

“I won't Mark! I'm so close with Jeno right now."

"You do realize that even _if_ they're broke up, there is no guarantee that they will turn their feelings to us, right?" said Mark carefully.

Haechan was ready to respond fiercely, but Mark's gaze made those words sentimental and Haechan's defense collapsed.

"Am I... that bad?"

Mark shook his head. He grabbed Haechan's body and hugged him. “That's why I want this to stop, Haechan-ah. Because you're not that bad. You are the most warmest person I know. Every single being in Hogwarts knew that too. Because I'm starting to see myself as a better person when I have no intention of purposely breaking people up. You know that, right?"

Haechan sobbed and nodded. Mark held him even tighter, letting Haechan hug him back.

“So please hear me out this time, Haechan-ah. You won't be alone. I'm here. I will always be here for you."

Mark kept whispering encouraging words that made Haechan's heart not only warm, but also melt and soften. Mark doesn't blame anyone, but tries to show that none of them deserve this kind of experience. He wanted to make sure that he was there for Haechan and Haechan could believe that. A new awareness of strange feelings crept into each other's heads. They need this. They want this.

They were so lost in their confessions that they didn't realize that someone was standing behind the wall, hearing everything clearly.

-


	4. phoenix from the ashes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaemin know.

Jaemin and Jeno are blatantly avoiding each other. Jeno is no longer waited for him every morning for breakfast. In fact, since having a study group, Jeno has hardly waited for Jaemin in the Great Hall at all. Jeno's new friends convinced him that he had valuable time that could be used for something other than standing around waiting for Jaemin who always took so long to prepare. Jeno felt that he had spoiled Jaemin enough and after Jaemin refused to talk to him, he didn't bother starting the conversation anymore.

Jaemin no longer eats in the Great Hall. Its Xiaojun who brought food for him, took turns with Chenle. They would eat together in the park while Jaemin spent the time staring at the distance and sighing heavily.

At the next quidditch match, Hufflepuff meets Slytherin. Lucas and Mark pretended to threaten Jaemin that they would be angry if Jaemin supported Hufflepuff and Jaemin laughed. Apart from Chenle, Xiaojun, and Renjun, Lucas and Mark were his closest friends. Jaemin chose to ignore every tease Lucas had on him and Mark and looked away whenever he found Mark staring at him.

Jaemin isn't blind. But he refused to hurt Mark more. Mark was too good for him and he didn't want to lose him. Jaemin hopes he is not selfish. Therefore he studied harder so that he used to do everything himself so that he didn't have to feel indebted to Mark.

That afternoon, Jaemin, Xiaojun, Mark, and Lucas sat in the stands with all the members of the Slytherin house. Across from them, the entire Hufflepuff house members was sitting under a yellow bandage. Renjun and Chenle were among them, waving excitedly at Jaemin. Jaemin waved back.

The match was fierce until the snitch was caught by Isaiah Morelman, the Slytherin seeker. However, the Hufflepuffs were so far ahead that with a score of 270–300, they won the match. The stand where Jaemin sat was cursing and whining because of the disappointment while the Hufflepuff stand exploded with excitement. "Suck," said Lucas, who left the team this year. Jaemin was amused because Lucas looked like a kicked puppy. He gave Lucas a quick hug and Lucas's face immediately flushed. As soon as they let go of their embrace, Jaemin faced Mark who was staring at him with his usual dazzled eyes. Trying to get rid of the bad feeling in his heart, Jaemin grabbed Mark in a hug.

"I know you don't care but at least pretend to be sad, Mark!" he whispered.

Mark snorted in stifling laughter and hugged Jaemin back.

Right before all of the players stepped their feet on the ground, almost all of the students going down to the field to congratulate them. Jaemin is one of them. He was looking for Jeno to congratulate him.

He caught Chenle who was talking to Renjun near the exit of the field and intended to approach them.

“Jaemin-hyung? Can I–can I talk to you? For a minute?" suddenly Jaemin's arm was held by Jisung who appeared out of nowhere.

“Jisung-ah! Hi! Have you seen Jeno?” Jaemin asked cheerfully.

Jisung smiled wryly. "Can I talk to you?" he repeated.

“But I have to see Jeno. He must be so stoked."

"But this is important, hyung. And maybe you will see Jeno-hyung after I talk to you."

Jaemin stared at Jisung confusedly, but the persistence on Jisung's face made him nod. He let Jisung pull himself to the edge of the field which was not too crowded.

“Jaemin-hyung, Chenle would be so mad at me for telling you this, but I can't help myself. You've been nice to me and I–and I can't let this kind of thing... _happening_ ,” said Jisung while biting his lip, nervous.

“Jisung-ie? Its alright. What is it?" asked Jaemin, now curious about what Jisung wanted to say to him.

Jisung took a deep breath before finally opening his mouth, “Lee Haechan and Lee Mark have some kind of… agreement. I heard them yesterday when they were meeting near the yard."

“Mark? Mark Lee? What are you talking about, Jisung?"

Jisung looked Jaemin right in the bead and said, "they wanted to break your relationship with Jeno-hyung."

Jaemin briefly felt he had heard wrong or was deaf. "Wait, WHAT? What? How–”

“Haechan-hyung likes Jeno-hyung and Mark-hyung likes you. So they kinda had a deal or something…"

"Are you serious?!"

Jisung nodded. “I heard them, hyung. I swear. They were talking about their relationship; between Haechan-hyung and Jeno hyung and yours with Mark-hyung. They seems… sad? I don't know. But Haechan-hyung was crying and Mark-hyung was saying that you're hurting. But they really wanted you two to break up. I just felt that its unfair? And wrong. I wanted to talk to Jeno-hyung first but I'm not close with him and I can't see you being completely clueless about it, hyung. Sorry, I just can't."

Jaemin couldn't believe what he was hearing, but suddenly everything seemed to be in the right place.

 _Fucking asshole_. Jaemin saw red and he walked unstoppably.

-

As a descendant of Veela, Jaemin never mistakes someone's emotions. He is a being that controlled by the desires of his heart rather than his mind. He is also used to the abundance of love from those around him. So he wouldn't mistake Haechan's gaze staring at Jeno as if Jeno was the one who made the world go round as he caught the shadow of the two hugging in front of the castle.

Well, Jeno _did_ make the world go round. But it was specifically for Jaemin and Jaemin alone. Now Jaemin realizes that Haechan doesn't want to be friends with Jeno. He wants to _have_ Jeno. Whatever will be. It doesn't matter that Jeno has a boyfriend. Jaemin did not expect that he would let himself be in the game of someone like Lee Haechan.

"LEE HAECHAN!"

The two people who looked so busy with themselves immediately flinched and turned their heads towards Jaemin. Jeno moved away from Haechan while Jaemin moved closer to them. He sees red, red, red.

"Lee Haechan, you sly motherfucker," Jaemin looked at Haechan with hatred and suddenly his wand was lifted to the air. Haechan's eyes widened and Jeno immediately pushed Haechan away.

Jeno took out his wand in haste.

"Crucio!"

"NO!" screams could be heard.

Jaemin felt a heavy blow hit his chest and stomach, sending his body thrown against the hard walls of the castle. He fell heavily to the floor.

"Jaemin!"

The chaos broke out. Chenle, Renjun, and Jisung ran over with panicked expressions, followed by other interested students.

Jaemin looked up in disbelief to see that not only Jeno, someone else was pointing a wand at him. And _of course_ that's Mark Lee.

Jaemin's breath still fluctuates when something sweet touches his lips. He touched his lips and noticed blood coming out of his nose and lips. His nose was sore and his breastbone was crushed.

"What the fuck you think you're doing, Jaemin?!" Mark exclaimed in disbelief. “Look around you! You wanted to hex him with unforgivable curses?! Are you lost of your mind?"

Jaemin's lips parted, about to explain and confront Mark back. But he caught the faces surrounding them and Haechan sobbing with tears. Everyone stared at him in disgust. Jaemin is familiar with love and expressions of love. Maybe it's too familiar that he feels like his world is shattered when he just doesn't catch _love_ in people's eyes. The humiliation is just too much. Even Renjun and Chenle couldn't get closer to him.

With his remaining strength, Jaemin got up and turned to leave. Even when he faltered, the gaze still stabbed his back. His tears streamed down and he remembered the old spell that his grandmother had taught him.

" _Morta!_ " he whispered and his feet stopped stepping on the stone floor.

-

Everyone gasped again when transparent wings came out from Jaemin's back and the boy flew away from the place.

"Haechan-ah, are you okay?" Mark was the first one to speak, grabbing Haechan's shoulder.

Haechan could only sobbed. His body was still shaking violently, never expecting that he could survive Jaemin's curse. He looked up and met Mark's warm eyes.

"What the hell are you doing, Mark Lee?!" Jeno's anger suddenly peaked, he stared at Mark sharply.

"What am I doing? I'm saving Haechan, in case you're blind, Lee Jeno." Mark pressed his embrace against Haechan's back.

“You don't need to hurt Jaemin! You hurt him, you asshole!"

"He's going to do something awful, Jeno!"

“YOU FUCKING HURT HIM! YOU KNOW YOU DON'T NEED TO DO THAT TO STOPPED THE CURSE! "

“J-Jeno…” Haechan called softly. Even in the midst of shock and fear, he still felt pain seeing how much Jeno cared for Jaemin above anything else. Guilt flayed Haechan alive and he hated this feeling.

Jeno's eyes were already bright red and before he could do anything he would regret in front of all the students, he rudely grabbed his broom and flew after Jaemin.

Jaemin wasn't the one who would go around casting curse spells on just anyone. Jaemin was also the last person Jeno would imagine using an Unforgivable Curse, especially in Hogwarts. So he tried to catch Jaemin. He entered the West Tower and landed in front of the open door. Jeno quickly entered the owlery.

“… JUST BRING ME HOME, MUM! I HATE IT HERE! I'M DONE! TAKE THE EARLIEST TRAIN AND PICK ME UP. Please, Mum, please please please… I can't stay here any longer. I can't-I can't even back to my room, Mum, please don't ask and just come. I thought they were harmless… Mum, you are right. People are evil! Please, Mum… "

That's Jaemin. Standing near one of the tables, his back to Jeno. His shoulders rose and fell in a quick rhythm and his voice thundered despite the tears.

"Jaemin!" called Jeno, his worries grew along with Jaemin's words.

Jaemin gasped and turned his head. Jeno's gaze shifted to a red letter floating in front of Jaemin. He didn't have to ask to know that Jaemin was making Howlers.

"NO!" he said sternly, brandishing his wand and setting the Howler on fire.

“FUCK YOU! GO AWAY!" Jaemin shouted angrily. Jeno could see the bridge of his injured nose, blood draining from his nose and the corners of his lips. Jaemin's hand held his stomach.

"Nana, you hurt. Let me see–"

"Now you care?" Jaemin replied fiercely. Now there are no more gentle glances from Jaemin. His blood-red eyes narrowed towards Jeno and his nose twitched in anger. His knuckles turned white and Jeno never saw Jaemin this angry.

"Nana, please let me–"

“Don't fucking touch me, you asshole. I hate you. I fucking hate you. GO! I SAID GO!" at this point, Jaemin screamed like crazy.

Inside Jeno, a storm was raging seeing how injured Jaemin was, not only physically but also psychologically. He wanted to be by Jaemin's side. He wanted to approach Jaemin and hug him with all his body cells but Jaemin keeping the distance as far as possible between them and screamed, making almost all of the owls disturbed and flew out from the windows.

"Please, Nana..." Jeno didn't care if he had to beg.

Jaemin didn't answer other than shaking his head hysterically, continuing to back away until he stopped by the wall. His tears mixed with blood from his mouth and he rubbed it furiously, making Jeno even more anxious.

“Go. Like you always did. Go, Jeno. I'm a monster,” Jaemin hissed and stumbled. “You must be here because you wanted to ask why I did that, _right_? I'm not gonna say anything to you. You won't believe me! You won't!”

"Nana, no. I won't ask… I just want to–"

Jaemin didn't care and shouted again, “ARE YOU STUPID?! GO! I DON'T NEED YOU, I DON'T WANT YOU ANYMORE JUST FUCKING GO!"

Jeno didn't waste any time by wrapping his arms around Jaemin's body and hugging him tightly. "I won't. Sorry, Nana. I'm sorry. Sorry. Sorry."

But Jaemin didn't give up. He hit Jeno's chest and his legs buckled. Unfortunately, his emotions controlled him fully so that in Jeno's arms, he was only able to rebel for no more than five minutes before collapsing weakly. Jaemin covered his face while roaring innocently.

“Oh, Nana…” Jeno shed tears, kissed Jaemin's temples. But Jaemin was furiously scratching his face so Jeno hold him tighter at the point he afraid he would hurt the younger.

“I'm a–a fucking monster… I look crazy when I'm–when I'm crying… Go… you don't want to see m–me… I could hex you with t–the damn curse… go…“ Jaemin's hands went down and grabbed his throat because he could feel the strong choke from inside his body.

Jeno was burn to see that and he hold his Nana hands carefully. “You know what, baby? I'm a monster too, they said… I can hurt you too, you know that. I love you, Nana. I'm sorry I've been a jerk to you… I just saw your eyes before and… and I know what are you feeling. I feel so fucking bad, Nana. I hope you could hex me instead…” Jeno whispered.

Jaemin felt his strength being absorbed by the waves of surging tears that made his head feel dizzy. His legs gave out and he sat down with Jeno, who kept hugging him tightly. None of them cared even if the floor was dirty and the owls screeched over their voices.

"I want-want to go home... don't wanna be here..."

“Ssssh, baby…” Jeno kissed the top of Jaemin's head and cursed himself. Jaemin didn't need to say anything and Jeno knew that Jaemin had been so sad the past few weeks. Jeno feels very bad because he doesn't realize his boyfriend's feelings and chooses to be busy with all his new activities and friends.

"I don't-don't wanna disturb you." Jaemin's voice faltered as he whispered. "Go."

Jeno shook his head and tightened his hug to Jaemin's back. “How could I? My love, you are hurting and I will do my best to stay with you. I'm sorry, Jaemin. So sorry."

-

They were locked up in the Transfiguration classroom until dinner ended. One prefect of each houses stood not far behind the classroom. Jaemin sat on one of the chairs. His gaze was blank. Next to him stood Jeno. In the opposite corner, Mark and Haechan sat together.

Nobody spoke until finally the Headmaster and the Head House of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin entered the room. The atmosphere was getting cold and tense.

“Good evening. You knew why are you here. Now, can you do a favor and explain to me about what happened? I'm not gonna mention that this is the matter of life and Azkaban, so I hope you could cooperate."

No one answered. No matter how much they wanted to say something, no one knew how it all started. They were only able to bow until the Headmaster nodded.

"Okay. So we're gonna do this in a hard way. I assume Mr. Na could go first?"

"No, Professor!" Jeno snapped. But Jaemin got up from his chair. He stepped forward and stood in front of the Headmaster.

“You don't need to track my wand, Professor. I did that. I did the Cruciatus Curse. All of the people here are the witness." Jaemin said calmly, but he handed his wand to the Headmaster.

“You did know that its against the rule, right, Mr. Na? No throwing curse at each other outside the classroom, let alone an Unforgivable Curse. The Ministry would send you to the Azkaban if you successfully execute the curse. You're well aware about that, right?" although he didn't raise his voice at all, everyone shuddered at the Headmaster's words.

"Yeah, sir. I know. You could send me to Azkaban–"

"No!" Jeno and Mark's voices clashed loudly. Ringing inside the classroom.

The Headmaster glanced at the two. "But no, Mr. Na. You know that as long as I'm here, no one, I repeat, _no one_ will go to Azkaban. Especially student, not in my watch. But I'm sure you do have a reason, right? Can you tell me…?”

Jaemin lifted his face for a moment before lowering his gaze. There was a few seconds of silence until he decided the most sensible move. He shook his head. "Sorry, Professor." Even the prefects in the back gaped because no one had ever dared to refuse the Headmaster request. In contrast, the Headmaster just smiled faintly. “Very well, then. I guess you are okay with Legilimens?"

Jaemin frowned slightly and Jeno grasped the back of the chair with trembling hands.

"Be ready," the Headmaster took out his own wand.

It was then when Haechan quickly stood up. “No! Professor, you don't need to! I will explain it to you. All of it. Please don't."

Haechan's words left everyone, apart from Jaemin and the Headmaster, flabbergasted. But Haechan did not pay attention to all the eyes that were directed at him. He stepped forward and stood not far from Jaemin.

"It was... it was my mistake..."

So from his mouth, came all the secrets he kept with Mark about their plan to separate Jeno and Jaemin. Jeno's face that was initially confused turned cloudy to the point of anger.

“… So its me, Professor. I'm the one who should be punished–"

"No, its me, Professor," Mark, who this time got up after he could only bow his head low when Haechan told everything to everyone. He stood next to Haechan, ignoring Haechan's gaze that asked him to be quiet. "No, Mark. Don't."

"I'm suppose to teach them and be the wise one but I can't do that. I'm sorry, Professor. It was my mistake to play along. I shouldn't agree with him. And stopped him."

“That's… not true, Professor! It was MY idea. I asked Mark to do this with me. I literally forced him–"

"No you don't, Haechan-ah," Mark replied fiercely.

Haechan swallowed hard and convinced the Headmaster. "Believe me, Professor. Its me. Not him."

"Enough."

The Headmaster's voice sounded clear though slow. He effectively silenced Mark and Haechan.

"I still don't know how Mr. Na here ended up with a curse…” he muttered while looking at Jaemin.

Jaemin lowered his head. "I heard them," he finally said. Don't feel the need to include Jisung in this polemic. Mark and Haechan gasped but Jaemin continued, “yesterday. While they were talking about separating me and Jeno. I–I didn't confront them because I was too shocked. But I saw Haechan and Jeno hugged each other after the game today so I was kinda… blew up.” Jaemin grimaced a little because his last words reminded him of the package that exploded.

"I see."

The Headmaster nodded and nobody spoke.

Jaemin saw the Heads of the Houses who glanced at each other and opened his mouth, "they didn't break any rule, Professor. It was me. I did the Cruciatus Curse. Thank you for not sending me to Azkaban. But I know your concern about this… I'm okay if you want to expelled me, Professor."

Jaemin's words left the Heads Houses, prefects, Mark, and Haechan gaping.

"No, Professor!" this time Jeno replied. He stepped forward and stood beside Jaemin. "Don't send him home, Professor. Please. Its not entirely his fault. In fact, I broke his curse. Me and… Mark,” Jeno couldn't hide the anger in his voice, but he tried to stay calm to save Jaemin. No, he _can't_ lose Jaemin. “He's hurt. His nose and ribs are broken."

The Headmaster stared at the four boys in front of him in turn. He glanced briefly at the Heads Houses who were trying to show neutral expressions and sighed. When he looked back at the four boys, he met Jaemin's eyes that full of request. _Just send me home, please. I can't stay here any longer. Its too much. My life is screwed._ Jaemin tried to convey this despair through his eyes. Surprisingly, the Headmaster smiled and tilted his head slightly. He seemed to be able to read Jaemin's mind (or he can?).

"Mr. Haechan Lee and Mr. Mark Lee,” called the Headmaster, making the two said boys frown in fear. Mark was so ready if the Headmaster asked him to pack his luggage. He could come home, and maybe go to the muggle world. His mother is certainly disappointed… “detention for you. I hope you could learn from this… event. It seems completely harmless at first but you need to learn about the consequences and how a bad intention would cost you your life. Did I make myself clear? Now, you can go." The Headmaster didn't wait for an answer, he scoffed at the Gryffindor and Slytherin Head Houses whom he trusted to provide the detention.

"Jaemin," before being led out of the room, Haechan ventured to open his mouth because he knew he wouldn't be able to approach and even talk to Jaemin again after this. "I'm sorry." He knew that apology should be able to relieve his chest, but he still felt tight knowing he had not only destroyed Jaemin and Jeno's relationship, but also his life.

The Headmaster smiled seeing this while Jaemin just nodded without turning around.

"Jaem," called Mark.

“Just forget it. I forgive you." Jaemin looked away, refusing to look at any of them.

So with that, Mark and Haechan walked out with their respective Heads House.

"Very well." The Headmaster smiled. "I really appreciate it, Mr. Na. But I will confiscated your wand until further notice, okay? Now, Mr. Lee, I think I'm gonna talk with Mr. Na here for a moment. You're the one with the clear record here. So you can go."

Jeno nodded. He took the time to hold Jaemin's hand for a moment while whispering, "I'll wait for you outside." Before leaving. The Headmaster also gestured to the prefects to leave until he was alone in the room.

With his eyes shining, he took a deep breath.

-

Jeno stood in the hallway in front of the Transfiguration classroom anxiously. He is still wearing the Hufflepuff quidditch uniform and hasn't even met the slightest bit of his teammates. He couldn't think of anything other than Jaemin right now.

Ten minutes later, the door creaked open. Jaemin stepped outside and closed the door behind him.

"Nana," Jeno immediately hugged him.

Jaemin didn't answer. He just stared at the tips of his shoes with wet eyes.

"Oh, Nana." Jeno wiped Jaemin's tears. "You need to rest," he concluded. He embraced Jaemin's shoulder and helped him walk.

At the door of the Slytherin common room, Xiaojun stood with another Hufflepuff, Hendery Wong.

"Nana!" Xiaojun immediately approached and hugged Jaemin. His face looked worried and he glanced at Jeno and Hendery alternately. “What happened? What did they tell you?" he asked, unable to hide the fear in his voice. He couldn't imagine if they expelled his cousin.

"Detention. And The Headmaster took my wand,” Jaemin muttered. "Tired, Jun," Jaemin could only close his eyes.

"Oh," Xiaojun felt like he was about to faint with the sudden relief that filled his chest cavity. “Let me tuck you in, Nana. Okay?"

Jaemin just nodded.

“Come on, Jun. I'll help," said Jeno. Xiaojun then said goodbye to Hendery before he, Jaemin, Jeno went into the common room. Their presence silencing the whole room who were still discussing the incident in this afternoon. Xiaojun glared at them and took Jaemin to their room. They lay Jaemin on his bed.

"You okay, baby?" Jeno asked after covering Jaemin with a blanket. Jaemin shook his head and Jeno kissed his forehead. "I'll wait for you tomorrow, okay? Have a nice dream."

“Thank you, Jun,” Jeno smiled sadly when Jaemin closed his eyes.

“That's my cousin, Jen. Of course I'm here. You need to go, man. You still dressed as an enemy,” Xiaojun tried to brighten the atmosphere.

-

"Sorry, Jen. He's gone. Detention. I don't even know where did he go or what his detention is,” Xiaojun apologized when he saw Jeno standing in front of the Great Hall.

“Come on, bud. You need to eat,” behind Xiaojun, Renjun appeared.

Jeno wanted to find where Jaemin was but he knew he shouldn't interfere with the detention. After making sure that Xiaojun would look after Jaemin, he ate with Renjun.

"Where is Lele?" asked Jeno. He could hear here and there the students were still trying to dig up information about yesterday's incident. One or two even thought that Jaemin had been sent to Azkaban. Even Renjun felt uncomfortable.

“He's with Jisung. They had a project for Potion." Renjun looked at Jeno who had no appetite. "I know. I miss him too, Jen. But you need to eat. Come on," he persuaded. At the end, Jeno only took a sip of milk and ate a few spoons of mashed potatoes.

But until dinner, he didn't see Jaemin anywhere. Xiaojun just shook his head from the Slytherin table and Jeno felt like crying. Never before had he been so frustrated, tired, and worried. Jaemin is not well and he can't concentrate on anything at the moment. Even when his teammates are trying to get close to discussing their training plans or when several people approach him to congratulate him.

"You can write him," said Renjun. He also wanted to meet Jaemin. Yesterday they were too shocked by what had happened that they didn't quickly approach Jaemin.

Jeno nodded. He put away his plate and wrote a letter asking to meet Jaemin. After dinner, he entrusted the letter to Xiaojun who promised to deliver it.

-

Jaemin came back late at night after his detention hours for the day has ended. When talking privately with the Headmaster yesterday, the Headmaster was actually interested in his physical changes with his family's spell. He also punished Jaemin to helping Rubeus Hagrid by taking care of the animals that Hogwarts cared for.

“Half-Veela, eh? Never seen one of you ever since Beauxbatons." Hagrid greeted him by repeating what he had said the first time he saw Jaemin in Care of Magical Creatures class. “Come on, you know what to do. You're good at this."

Jaemin wanted to bark, "because my ancestors are bird?" but he knew Hagrid would never mean to hurt anyone. On the other hand, Jaemin had a lot to learn from Hagrid. He followed Hagrid to take care of a group of Hippogriffs on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. As Hagrid said, this was not at all difficult because magical beasts were naturally more familiar with supernatural beings than humans. In an instant Jaemin was surrounded by several Hippogriffs who were sniffing him curiously and after a few bows they let him close like Hagrid.

"See?" Hagrid laughed as Jaemin pulled out his wings and invited the hippogriffs to fly in low altitude.

The punishment felt more like a gift because Jaemin couldn't stay longer in the castle. Several people were blatantly looking at him in disgust and if it weren't for Xiaojun, he would have been the butt of everyone in the class. He felt much more vulnerable because he no longer had a wand now. The Class Leader even openly chuckled when Professor Carmaulle asked him to get a spare wand for Jaemin. Jaemin has never been this embarrassed and afraid.

At 11 pm he entered the castle and saw Xiaojun waiting for him at the door with-again-Hendery Wong.

Hendery smiled at him.

"Nana!" Xiaojun hugged him tightly. “Are you okay? What did they want you to do?"

"Just some... things." Jaemin dodged it, not wanting to say anything about his detention.

“I brought you left over from dinner. Its on your bed. And oh,” Xiaojun took out a note from his pocket. "Its from Jeno."

In order to see Jaemin who froze when he heard his words, Xiaojun continued. "Please accept it, Nana. He's so worried about you."

"True," Hendery said. "I didn't see him eat at all today."

Jaemin swallowed hard and accepted the letter.

“Well, it's almost midnight. I should get going,” Hendery got up and smiled. He gave Xiaojun a quick kiss and nodded at Jaemin before leaving.

Jaemin was a little amused by seeing his cousin's cheeks flushed slightly.

"You know you don't need to wait for me, right? Or you just want to spend much more time with him?” Jaemin teased.

"Nana, stop!"

Jaemin laughed, never thinking that Xiaojun, the true Slytherin by heart, who didn't even hesitate to underestimate everyone, could now be charmed by a cheerful boy like Hendery.

"Well, I guess all of us have a particular soft spot for a Huffie, huh?" After the blush died down, Xiaojun barked again.

-

Haechan skipped breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but not because of detention. No one knew the conversation that was going on in the Transfiguration classroom. Even the prefects were speechless despite witnessing the incident themselves. That day Haechan received a huge surge of sympathy from almost all over the castle.

Several third grader girls from Hufflepuff approached him and scrambled to say that they liked Jeno and Haechan better instead of Jeno and Jaemin; a seventh grader from Gryffindor invited him to sit down together and tapped him on the shoulder in sympathy, giving sweets and various snacks; even the Slytherins' eyes seemed drawn to him.

"You know what the saying. There is a very thin line between love and hate. Guess people really _voves_ Jaemin, huh?" Yangyang chuckled as he delivered pies from several Hufflepuff students for Haechan. Surprisingly, when Yangyang put all of the delicious food in front of the older, Haechan looked like he wanted to cry with a red face.

“Haechan-ah. Are you touched?"

Haechan shook his head. "I can't–I can't do this anymore!" the defenses he had been trying to build all day collapsed. He burst into tears and Yangyang frantically hugged him to calm his tears. Not long after, a noise was heard and Mark Lee burst in. In order to see Haechan crying, he hugged Haechan tightly.

"Oh, Haechan-ah."

“M–Mark, I can't! I'm so sorry, Mark. I'm sorry. Its my fault!" Haechan shrieked hysterically.

Mark quickly took out his wand and casted Muffliato spell before calming Heachan down. “I know, Haechan. Calm down, please."

However Haechan could no longer control his emotions. He let go of his hug and stared at Mark closely with his teary eyes. “They been saying bad things to Jaemin! Its not even his mistake, Mark! Its me in the first place. I deserve it. Y–you didn't need to protect me, Mark! I should be punished..."

“Haechan-ah, no. Please calm down before you talk, okay? I'm here. I'm here. I'm not gonna leave. You can talk to me."

Yangyang looked at the two people in front of him confusedly. He didn't understand what Haechan said and why Haechan was so messed up.

"Haechan-ah..." he tried to call out.

Haechan turned his head and looked at Yangyang. “Its my fault, Yang. I planned to broke them up! I've been doing my best to do the worst thing ever! And Jaemin… Jaemin knew. That's why he wanted to curse me. Oh, Yang. Its my fault. And I did it on purpose… I wanted to separate them that's why I've been hanging around with Jeno so much. I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

Yangyang's eyes widened, but Mark quickly refuted Haechan, “no, its not just you. Its us, Haechan-ah. Its our plan. I'm sorry. I should be the one who stopped it."

Yangyang closed his mouth was in disbelief at the massive revelation in front of him. "Haechan-ah... I can't believe you did that..." he said in a low voice.

"I know, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I should have listen to you all along. I'm sorry. Yang, please don't leave me. Shit. I know you must be disgusted with me… I'm sorry. But I can't–you are my best friend–"

"Yeah, yeah," Yangyang interrupted him. "You should have listen to me, Haechan, for God's sake." He took a deep breath before grabbing Haechan's hand. "I'm here, dude. As long as you realized your wrongdoing, and I can see it now, I'm here for you. Don't worry. You too, Mark."

Mark nodded slowly.

"You're gonna make things right, right?" Of course. The true Gryffindor by heart, they said.

"Yes." Mark nodded. The true Slytherin by heart, because nothing will be able to prevent Mark to achieve what he wants.

-

Jeno asked to meet Jaemin in front of the History of Magic classroom in the afternoon after their class ended. Jaemin wobbled a little to that place in order to arrive faster than Jeno.

 _He can't see me like this_ , he dragged his feet.

"Jaemin-hyung!"

Jaemin's body froze for a moment before seeing Jisung running towards him. He immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

“Jaemin-hyung, are you okay? Where are you going? This is not the way to the Hospital Wing."

“I have to meet Jeno now. Oh, no,” Jaemin felt his legs could no longer hold on and he sat on the bench near them. Luckily the passage leading to the outside of the castle was empty. Jisung knelt in front of him and pulled his pants up.

"Ewh," he winced, his jaw tight. "That's nasty, hyung."

"I know." Jaemin nodded while trying to catch his breath. There was an incision on his calf. It was the result of one of the evil ancient spells to produce intense wounds and stings without the slightest blood flow. As a result, Jaemin's blood clotted blackish around the wound.

“Can you–can you heal it for me, Jisung? I don't have my wand,” Jaemin bit his lip.

Jisung's eyes widened in fear. “I never try that, hyung. Lets just go to the hospital, okay? O–or should I call Lele? He could bring Renjun-hyung."

"No, don't!" yelled Jaemin quickly.

"Why?" Jisung whined whined.

Jaemin just shook his head. "I'm okay. It will be gone in few hours. I just need to bare with it."

“I hate them, hyung,” Jisung tried to wipe Jaemin's wound with a handkerchief. “I know Gryffindor are brave and anything. But they're dumb. And evil sometimes. Look at what they did to you. They literally casted a spell on you and laughed. Fucking asshole."

"Hey, hey, stop it, kid. They're your senior. Just let them be."

"I'm sorry I didn't help you, hyung."

"Jisung, thank you for did not help me, really," said Jaemin earnestly. "You can't even heal my wound so if both of us are wounded, we'll be screwed." Jaemin smiled.

"I should learn harder," Jisung whined again.

Jaemin tried to laugh.

"Why didn't you tell them that you did that because of Haechan and Mark plan?"

"Can we not talking about this?"

Jisung didn't budge. "I saw them, hyung. I'm Gryffindor, you know. I saw how my housemate," Jisung snorted in disgust, "planning on how to get you. They wanted revenge. You lost your book, right? They fucking stole it. And of course I saw that Hufflepuff seventh grader that came out from the bathroom before you left with bruises on your ribs. You asked me to heal it for you, of course I knew you didn't tripped!"

"What did you just said, Park Jisung?"

The two of them turned their heads quickly. Jaemin felt his heart stop beating when he saw Jeno approaching them with sharp eyes and clenched fists.

“J-Jeno-hyung…” Jisung tried to open his mouth, knowing that Jaemin didn't want other people to know.

"They did what to Jaemin?" Jeno repeated while standing near them.

“Jen! Uhm, I was going to meet you but Jisung here–” Jaemin bent his legs, but too late, Jeno already winced seeing him. He pushed Jisung and knelt in front of Jaemin.

"Nana, who the fuck did this to you?"

Jisung was only able to be silent as he saw Jaemin swallow his saliva with a pale face. The air around them grew colder and Jisung felt like he didn't know Jaemin and Jeno again; where he could see how scary and intimidating Lee Jeno was.

“No, its nothing. They didn't do this purposedly, I just cross by and they're–” Jaemin's eyes glowed in panic. Before he could ramble on, Jeno's gaze silenced him. Jeno grabbed Jaemin's leg and examined the wound. "I don't know," Jaemin finally answered.

"I can heal you but we should report this."

"Just heal me, Jen. Its okay. Please? I–Its hurts…”

Jeno took a deep breath before taking out his wand and swinging it at Jaemin's wound. Jaemin groaned as he felt cold water running down his legs while Jisung was amazed to see Jaemin's wounds slowly closing in and leaving a line of redness.

"I won't heal it entirely because we're gonna report them. You saw the person who did this to Jaemin right, Jisung? And the person who stole Jaemin book and hit him in the bathroom? Actually, give me that bastards name."

“Yes, Jeno-hyung. Its Gryffindor and Hufflepuff students, they are–"

"Ji, I need you to leave, please." Jaemin cut in. Jisung looked at Jaemin and suddenly shrank when Jaemin's gaze was so cold to him. "I need to talk to Jeno. I appreciate your help but you need to leave. Now."

Jisung scampered away.

"Why didn't you tell me–" just like Jisung, Jeno was ready to blow up in front of Jaemin.

"And why should I?" Jaemin replied curtly. He is just too tired.

"BECAUSE YOU'RE HURTING, NANA!"

"I'm LEAVING!" this time Jaemin shouted. Jeno looked at him in shock.

Jaemin could feel his chest bursting. He tried to take a deep breath before finally braving himself to look back at Jeno. “I will leave, Jen. My mum and dad will pick me up soon. I can't stay here anymore."

Jeno's mind suddenly went blank at Jaemin's words. He wanted to hug Jaemin and demanded him not to joke at this time but Jaemin's sad look made him stunned. Even with his cold body temperature, Jeno felt like he was shivering. "What?" His voice was hoarse.

"I don't want to stay here anymore. I'm stupid. And now people calling me with names. They're saying that I don't deserve to be here. They wanted me death. I got so many hate letters I sent Bembi home already. I'm just gonna go home and study in muggle school. Or not even study at all. I miss my mum and dad."

Jeno gripped Jaemin's hands and stared at him closely. His tears had welled up in his eyes but he didn't care. If Jaemin never cares about his body temperature that is below normal, he also doesn't care about the people around them. _Screw them_.

"Nana, don't go. I'm sorry. I will protect you better from now on. I'm promise. I will be with you all the time. I will pick you up from your common room or classes. I will tuck you to bed every night. I will do anything to have you beside me here. Please, Nana. You can't go. Just one more year and then we'll be free from here, yeah? Then we will be together everyday. Everyday, Nana. I promise you."

Jaemin shook his head in frustration. “You're busier than me, remember? You have your classes too. Your practices and matches. Your study groups. You can't be around me everytime. Look, Jen. I wont bother you anymore. You can do anything that you pleased without me bothering you any longer. Please don't say such thing about the time we graduate. We never talked about that so you don't need to promise me anything. Its okay." Suddenly, Jaemin remembered about his mate and it hurt him even more.

"No, you don't listen!" Jeno's emotions overflowed uncontrollably. "I will drop anything for you, Jaemin. Anything. I'm sorry, hm? You're never a bother for me. I love you. You know that. What the hell are you saying, Nana? Of course I want a future with you. We can start planning now."

"You're the one who doesn't listen, Jen!" Jaemin stomped Jeno's hand. "I can't stay here. You can say that because you're always a brilliant wizard and you loved it here. You can't force me to be like you, you know? Its not my place." Jaemin wants to say that Jeno is the biggest factor in why he stays at Hogwarts.

"I won't let you go. Never,” Jeno hissed.

Jaemin snorted in disbelief. He pushed Jeno's body away. "You're freaking selfish."

“I'm not because I know you are a great wizard, too! I'm mad at you few times because you're brilliant but you never bother to try while in fact you're the one who told me that I'm special. We are special."

"Maybe that's just a lie!" Jaemin replied fiercely. Arguing with Jeno was always tiring, but this was the first time they were so adamant about their respective opinions. This is the first time Jaemin really hates their world. "Maybe they're right," Jaemin's voice shrank. He remembered the terrible letters he received and shook his head to erase the image.

“Maybe that's not the real me. I tried my best to fit here. I'm still trying right now. Maybe I'm a vicious being. A magical creature who slowly showed his true color. I'm only bring harm to human."

Jeno tried to breathe. Jaemin shouldn't accept such evil words. Jeno knows Jaemin as well as he knows himself. Jaemin has never hurt anyone for reasons that don't make sense.

"Jaemin, that's not–"

"Lets end this, Jeno."

-

The sky was suddenly dark and as usual, the black clouds were followed by a wave of cold wind blowing the leaves across the yard, returning the students to their respective houses to prepare for dinner after a tiring day. It looks like it's going to rain tonight and everyone is ready to put on their favorite coats and return to their warm beds after drinking glasses of pumpkin juice and eating meat and dessert.

Amidst the stream of black robes of students moving into the castle after enjoying a beautiful afternoon, Jeno lunged at the group of Gryffindor chatting near the fountain, laughing at something Jeno didn't know. But he didn't care.

Few of them caught his figure and glanced at each other before Jeno got close enough and brandished his wand.

Alain North-Park and Erica McCandles shrieked as their bodies shot into the air. Their friends immediately scattered away while Jeno kept his two targets five feet off the ground.

"Say, do you regret it?"

There was a terrifying scream from Erica and in an instant the students swarmed around them, gaping at Lee Jeno making the two of them float away.

"Lee Jeno!" Renjun pushed his way through the crowd, immediately moving beside Jeno, but Jeno pushed him away. "What are you doing?!" Chenle trailed behind him.

Jeno didn't answer, still maintaining eye contact. He twisted his wand and from the hem of the two people's robes appeared a curving tendrils of plants curling their bodies from the tips of their feet.

"PUT ME DOWN!" exclaimed Erica hysterically.

"YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" screamed Alain, his eyes staring at Jeno.

But Jeno smiled wickedly. “Now I know why you tortured people. It feels good, hm? Knowing that they couldn't do anything and you're on the upper hand. Take your own medicine now, go on."

Chenle was about to pull Jeno's wand when Jisung appeared and pulled it and Renjun retreated.

"Ji?!"

Jisung shook his head timidly. “Stop it, Lele-ya. He's doing the right thing."

"What? What right thing?" Renjun demanded in disbelief. "He's torturing people!"

"Yeah, he's torturing the people who tortured Jaemin-hyung before," added Jisung.

"They did what?" shrieked Chenle.

Jisung nodded convincingly. “Jaemin-hyung is the target of the bully now. He asked me to heal him yesterday and today. I'm sorry he didn't want me to tell you guys. Jeno-hyung just found out, too. I guess he just did Jaemin-hyung the favor."

“Really, Ji? You telling me that NOW?" Chenle has his hands on his hips, his face is ashen red, and his brows are knit together. This is not a good sign.

"Uh, guys... We should stop Jeno," Renjun looked at Jeno in horror. There was a fire dancing in the vines of the plants that ensnared Alain and Erica, causing them to scream again. But before Renjun, Chenle, and Jisung had time to move, Professor Suh appeared.

He flicked his wand and freed Alain and Erica in one glance. He lowered the two students to the ground while Jeno lowered his wand.

"Mr. Lee?" Professor Suh raised an eyebrow, unable to believe that he would meet Jeno and bewitch two of his classmates in the middle of the yard. There was a sudden silence. part from Erica's cry and Alain's growl, who was now being helped by his friends, no one spoke.

"He did the right thing, Professor." Another sound appeared and people were shocked to see Mark Lee approaching.

"Hm? Is that so?" as usual, Professor Suh's expression softened at his favorite student.

“He just helped another student who got bullied by them. We can check their wands too, Professor." Mark tilted his head slightly, knowing that without confidence, he wouldn't be able to convince Professor Suh.

"And when will you're gonna report Mr. North and Ms. McCandles to one of the teacher?" Professor Suh fixed the position of the glasses on the bridge of his nose while looking at Mark.

“I've talked to the Head of Gryffindor house; Mr. Lupin. He took 100 points from Gryffindor and planned to get them into Detention. That's why I'm here, actually,” Mark cleared his throat and accompanied by a sharp gaze, he approached Alain, Erica, and his other friends to give a summons from their Head House. Their faces turned pale when they received it.

“Very well, then. I guess Mr. Lee here didn't get his punishment yet. So, mind to follow me?" Professor Suh looked at Jeno from behind his glasses and Jeno nodded. Jeno followed Professor Suh's steps into the castle, leaving everyone looking at him in disbelief.

-

"I don't need your help," Jeno hissed fiercely.

Mark sighed. He knew Jeno would never forgive him. And it wasn't Jeno's fault considering that Haechan and Mark practically didn't have the chance to come face to face with him.

"I don't want to help you. I did it for Jaemin. I can only reported them to their Head House because he must hate to see me help him."

"You know your place, good."

Mark glanced at Professor Suh who came out and closed the door. Jeno is punished for helping Professor Suh get rid of his pile of unused magical items that were sent to him throughout the year as research material. Mark arrives to help under the pretext that he is Professor Suh's assistant. Professor Suh realizes the tension between the two and decides to work in another room.

"Jeno, I'm sorry. I really am. Haechan too. I won't justify our action, its simply very wrong and very very bad. And I feel sorry not just to you and Jaemin, but to me and Haechan. We didn't… Nevermind. I don't want to explain it further to you so you can symphatize with me. No. You deserve to hate me. I deserve that. I'm sorry. I know its not gonna make things right."

Only Jeno could be heard sliding the heavy cupboard containing the boggart for a few moments. Mark harbored his hope of hearing Jeno's response and continued his activities to dispose of the large aquarium where Hinkypunk lived.

"No. Actually, tell me the reason." Jeno put his hands on his hips with panting breath because the cupboard he just moved was unbelievably heavy. "Tell me _everything_ , Mark. Before Xiajon could get to you. Or my friends. So you better tell me all of the nasty thing you've been keeping about this or I just gonna watch them dismantle you."

So as a way to make peace with Jeno and understand himself, Mark pushed aside his doubts and decided to tell everything to Lee Jeno.

-

Jeno never imagined that in his seventh year, he would skip Arithmancy class and walk into the Forbidden Forest. A few years (or weeks) ago, he would be hysterical if he found out that he was going to skip one of his favorite classes when he had an exam next year. But once he managed to find out that Jaemin was spending time in the Forbidden Forest and skipped all day long, he didn't care about anything and ran quickly to the place. He didn't even thank Hendery for conveying Jaemin's whereabouts.

Smoke rises from Hagrid's house, indicating that Hagrid must be in his house. Jeno stepped deeper into the forest, letting the tall, dense trees cover him so that he completely blocked the sunlight, leaving a place that was damp, cold, and filled with the scent of rain.

"Thestral." That was all Hendery said after saying that Jaemin was in the Forbidden Forest. Not long after, Jeno arrived at a little land near a small river. The ordinary eye won't catch anything in that place.

But Jeno, who had seen Damian Lee-his vampire grandfather-die with a stab to the heart after living for more than two thousand years, could see a group of quadrupeds with gray eyes scattered all over the place.

“Good boy… or girl? I'm sorry I can't see you so I can't tell. But you are… good."

Jeno turned his head and saw Jaemin sitting on a tree trunk caressing the small thestral that was eating the raw meat on the ground. Jaemin's eyes could only predict the animal because Jaemin couldn't see it. Even so, he was quite happy to touch the animal.

"It's a male thestral," Jeno ventured out. Jaemin frowned slightly but his shoulders went limp when he saw Jeno. A second later he returned to stroking the thestral and nodded.

“Good boy indeed,” Jaemin took out another raw meat from his pocket and threw it some distance from where he was sitting. He could hear the thestral's palm moving away from him and how the flesh was being torn apart in the empty air.

Jeno approached and sat beside him.

For a moment no one spoke. Jeno observed Jaemin who looked charming in jeans and a black knit sweater. His hair fell almost to cover his eyes and he hugged his mother's knit bag which Jeno suspected contained a pile of food. Jeno's gaze dropped and he winced seeing Jaemin barefoot.

"I fly. I don't need shoes,” Jaemin noticed Jeno's gaze at his pale feet and bent his fingers.

"But it must be freezing here, Nana," muttered Jeno. He took off his robe and covered Jaemin's legs.

"How many are they, Jen?" Jaemin asked quietly while his gaze wandered ahead.

Jeno looked at the thestral group in front of them and answered, “eight. Do you like them, Nana?"

Jaemin didn't answer quickly. "I feel sorry for them."

"Why?"

“People associate them with something terrible. They must be beautiful, right?"

Jeno hummed in agreement.

"Are you okay, Nana?" Jeno asked after they fell silent again. He doesn't care if Jaemin neglects his studies. He only cares about Jaemin's condition. He is willing to leave Hogwarts to be with Jaemin if that is what Jaemin wants. And that's what he will say.

"I'm fine," Jaemin sighed. “Mum made me a lot of cupcakes. But they don't like cupcakes."

"I like cupcakes."

Jaemin turned his head and they locked eyes. From his eyes, Jeno could see how hurt Jaemin had been lately and he wouldn't stop feeling guilty considering that he was the cause. He lowered his eyes and took Jaemin's hand. He held the hand tightly.

"I want to be with you, Nana. Always. I'm sorry if I'm selfish. But I'll go anywhere you go. I'm sorry but I love you too much."

"You're sorry because you love me?" Jaemin whispered. No tears welled up. Jaemin didn't even have an expression. But Jeno's heart broke seeing how tired Jaemin was. He don't deserves any of _this_.

"No. I love it. I love the fact that I love you so much. I love every inch of my body because all the parts of me are loves you. I'm sorry because I can't let you go like you wanted me to."

Jaemin took a quick breath and exhaled with trembling lips. He choked on his own breath and Jeno immediately hugged him tightly. "Baby I'm here. Please don't shut me down. I'm sorry, baby."

With all his strength, Jaemin gripped Jeno's uniform and sank his face into Jeno's chest deeply. He could never lie that he didn't want Jeno. After all, Jeno is the only potential mate for him and he already has such a deep connection with the older. He will always want Jeno and miss Jeno making his whole body hurt. Jaemin knew he was torturing himself by moving away and avoiding Jeno and now he's giving up.

“Tired, Jen. So so tired."

Jeno took the initiative to get up, then lifted Jaemin's body and carried him. He let Jaemin who hugged his neck as if hanging for life and walked back to the castle. His Jaemin is tired and Jeno will do what's best for him.

Passing through the empty corridor because class was still in progress, Jeno decided that he will take Jaemin to his room. He was about to turn down the hallway near the kitchen when he saw a strange door he had never seen beside the armor. The door was a stark contrast to the stiff stone walls of Hogwarts because it was dark brown with the word _JAEMIN_ in pink splashed on its surface.

Jeno stopped and for a few moments, he stared at the door and frowning.

"Jen?" Jaemin whispered realizing that Jeno was silent but Jeno gasped. He had found the right place for Jaemin to rest.

Jaemin felt like he was in a dream when Jeno led him into a room with a very familiar smell. When his body landed on the familiar bed, Jaemin looked around and widened when he realized he was in his old room. The room he occupied when he was 10 years old before he left to Hogwarts. There is still a cupboard plastered with stickers and filled with graffiti, a barbie box in the corner of the room, a drawer where various ribbons and accessories are stored, even a white carpet and pink closet.

"Am I dreaming?"

"No, Nana. This is the copy of your old room,” Jeno shook his head because he knew Jaemin's old room. “It is the Room of Requirement. We found it."

"Oh my," Jaemin shut his mouth in disbelief. For a moment, he forgot his sadness. It was Jeno who then lay down beside Jaemin and grabbed him in a hug, making Jaemin put his face on the base of Jeno neck.

"You like this?"

"Uh-hm. The best." The faint musk scent of Jeno's body combined with the sweet scent of her room and Jaemin was never this calm.

“You're tired, right, baby? Now sleep. I'm here."

-

“My Nana. My beautiful Nana. My Nana who I love the most. My Nana that doing so well but still hurts like crazy. My Nana that I failed to protect. I love you, Jaemin. I love you so much."

Jaemin woke up from sleep with light kisses all over his face. In contrast to his hands and body temperature which was always cold, Jeno's kiss was always warm. Jaemin's smile spreads to realize a unique sensation every time Jeno kisses him while holding his cheek with cold hands. Like ice and fire united. Jeno's whispers made Jaemin's cheeks flush red and his heart beat uncontrollably.

"Sorry to wake you up, baby. But you need to eat. Its past lunch already,” Jeno whispered while continuing to give Jaemin's cheek a light kiss.

“Alright, alright. Stop it, Jen. Jeno stooooop,” he whined like a child and Jeno laughed.

Jaemin opened his eyes completely and faced Jeno's handsome smiling face. He looked around and breathed a sigh of relief when he realized they were still in the Room of Requirement which had been transformed into his room. Unconsciously Jaemin hugged Jeno tightly.

"I like it here."

"I like anywhere as long as I'm with you."

Jaemin giggled and Jeno held Jaemin's chin. He looked at Jaemin to see if a speck of doubt and rejection was there. But Jaemin is still _his Jaemin_ , who looks at Jeno as if Jeno is capable of anything on earth. So Jeno answered that promise by landing his lips on Jaemin's dry lips.

Kissing Jaemin can never be described and doesn't feel like anything. Nothing matches Jaemin's kiss. Jeno can list a hundred phrases but the combination of all of them will never come close to Jaemin's kiss. The closest description he can say is like when he was a child, where his mother and father taught him how to grow crops. Jeno transplanted the plants into larger pots before covering them with soil. There is a feeling of flowering every time you see the plant grow bigger each day. That's what he's experiencing now. With Jaemin, Jeno saw _hope_. Being with the younger proves that Jaemin is never too high out of his reach. Jaemin is always close. Too close. And Jeno loves it.

"I have to tell you something." Jaemin held Jeno's chest and let go of their kiss.

Jeno looked at him gently while stroking Jaemin's hair. "Yeah?"

Jaemin felt his throat dry before he dared open his mouth. “You know… I'm more like a Veela than a human. My dad is half-Veela and my mum is a Veela. I got a lot of their traits… like my appearance–mostly my appearance–, my constant needs of love,” Jaemin played with the buttons on Jeno's shirt, not daring to look at Jeno. “My wings… and a lot of things too… Are you–are you okay with that?”

Jeno was about to answer when Jaemin held his lips, “of course, of course you're okay. Hm, sorry. I'm rambling. But the most important thing is… that as a Veela, I'm gonna–gonna need a mate." Jaemin carefully raised his gaze to meet Jeno's eyes, hoping to convey his message well. He knew their relationship wouldn't work out well if he didn't explain this. But Jeno's eyes still didn't change and he could feel the panic creep to his face.

"Sorry! That's just me… I guess. Sorry for telling you that. B-but all I'm saying is… I will need someone to love and to love me. For life. Its big, I know. Sorry."

“Nana, Jaemin, hey,” Jeno cupping Jaemin's face delicately. "You don't need to apologize. Why should you? You're the one who taught me to be confident in our own skin. Don't worry, baby, okay? Now… are you telling me that you want to have a mate?”

Jaemin froze for a moment, looking a little scared. “Yes, Jeno,” said Jaemin, preparing himself to continue his words. “And for these past years… I think–I think you are the only one who could be my mate. I only w-want you..."

Jeno's smile broke. He kissed Jaemin's lips gently before looking into his warm eyes. "I will be angry if you ever think anyone except me could be your mate." He feel like flying right now.

Tears were about to burst out of Jaemin's eyes, but he did nothing but hug Jeno's neck and kiss him. He felt like his chest was going to explode with great pleasure and relief. Jaemin felt his body lighter as he moved along with Jeno's lips.

"I love you," whispered Jeno between their kisses. His hands were on Jaemin's back, keeping them close. Their chests touched each other and Jeno let Jaemin squeeze his back.

"I love you." Jaemin pulled his face and whispered back before kissing Jeno again.

They smile in the kiss.

Jeno knew just saying words wouldn't make Jaemin any safer and happier, but Jaemin never asked him for anything, changed his attitude, or adjusted Jeno to his life and personality and now Jeno is determined to do _anything_ to protect Jaemin. Loving Jaemin was never hard for him because he could clearly see how they just perfect for each other. 

His forever, everlasting Na Jaemin.

The next day, when Jeno saw Jaemin flying towards him and landed in his arms, Jeno knew why everyone always looked at them like miracles. Jeno won't argue. Being with Jaemin is a miracle. And he could definitely live with that.

-

"I can't take it anymore."

The following week, after Jaemin returned to his cheerful self, he made a vow while landing his body beside Jeno.

Chenle, Renjun, Jisung, and Jeno who were having lunch stared at him worriedly.

"What is it, Nana?" As usual, Jeno responded quickly to Jaemin's feelings. He has drastically reduced his activities, only taking classes and quidditch, so he can eat and relax as usual with Jaemin and his friends. He grabbed Jaemin's hand tightly.

Jaemin let out a languid sigh. He snickered at the Slytherin table, where Mark and Haechan sat and ate together. Since Haechan admitted his mistake to almost everyone, no one bothered to greet and accompany them. Haechan thinks his life at Hogwarts is over and thinking about returning home. However Mark and Yangyang were almost always by his side. Mark risked everything to accompany Haechan and Yangyang never made him lonely.

Jaemin could see the look on Haechan's face, who now didn't dare to look up from the plate. At first, Haechan was as cheerful as a fire scalded by cold water. He asked Jisung about Haechan's situation and suddenly knew that like him, Haechan was having a hard time. Jaemin's determination was unanimous.

"You guys loves me right?" Jaemin asked suddenly.

Jeno answered "yes" quickly, Chenle nodded innocently, Jisung avoided looking at Jaemin, while Renjun stared at him flatly. As the smartest in their year, Renjun knew Jaemin had something behind his words.

“What is it, Jaemin? I swear if you gonna do something stupid, I will _stupefied_ you," said Renjun.

Jaemin just shrugged, indifferent. "Just saying that I will do something tonight and since you guys loves me, you're gonna let me."

-

No one thought that the _something_ that Jaemin said was in the form of two people who Jaemin dragged to their table during dinner. Chenle and Jisung gawked, Renjun sighed, while Jeno's face was already stiff when he saw Jaemin embracing Mark and Haechan on both sides of his body.

Mark and Haechan's faces were even as white as ghosts, as if they couldn't believe they were in Na Jaemin's embrace, of all the people. Their bodies stiffened when Jaemin forced them to sit in front of Jisung and Chenle.

"We're gonna have dinner together tonight." Jaemin stated while sitting next to Jeno. He gave a light kiss on Jeno's temple.

Mark swallowed hard, feeling the sweat pouring from his forehead. Haechan who sat next to him was speechless. He knew that people's eyes were on them, seemed curious about what was going on.

"What's happening right now, Nana?" Jeno asked stiffly. He even refused to look at Mark and Haechan.

“You hear me, Jen. We–” Jaemin pointed to the seven of them who occupied one corner of the Ravenclaw table, “–are going to have dinner together. And I'm sorry if I'm going ahead of you guys, but I already asked Mark and Haechan to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner with us from now on. Right?" Jaemin looked at Mark and Haechan. His eyes were big but not at all intimidating.

"Y–yeah," Mark stuttered. He thought Jaemin would let his friends insult or even bewitch them. Mark didn't dare look at anyone at the table. He held Haechan's sweaty hand on Haechan's thigh, as if to say: _we can do this. Just take it as our punishment. Its okay. I will be here-_ -

“And no one could say a thing about that. You guys are not allowed to be mean to them. I won't ask you to treat them nicely but I KNOW you guys are the kindest, right, Junnie? Lele-ya? Sung-ie?" Jaemin blinked his eyes imploringly.

"O–of course," Jisung gasped.

Chenle swallowed hard and nodded while trying to smile.

Renjun groaned knowing he wouldn't be able to get away from Jaemin if he refused. "Okay, fine."

"Jen? Love?" Jaemin turned to Jeno. He put his hands together in front of his chest and tilted his head while looking at Jeno with a hopeful look. His lips pursed cutely and everyone knew Jeno had lost.

"Yeah. Sure."

"Good!" Jaemin called out cheerfully in his chair, taking the food to his plate. He made comments here and there about their dinner, trying to make his friends ignore the other students' glances and whispers.

“Mark-hyung, Haechan. Eat, please?"

Haechan's body stiffened when Jaemin called out his name. But Jaemin didn't show any indication that he was trying to make fun of them or humiliating them. He uses the same tone as he did to Chenle or Jisung. But of course Mark and Haechan couldn't just obey Jaemin's words. It was only after Jeno glared at them that Mark couldn't help grabbing the food and getting something for Haechan too.

It seemed that no one dared to refute Jaemin because until the dinner ended, no one said anything bad to them.

-

"Stop it, you two!" Renjun threw his ink bottle at Jeno. Jeno and Jaemin seemed to be eating each other's faces and were ready to get naked right then and there, so he decided to stop being indifferent and act wisely. Especially since the rest of her friends seemed unreliable at the moment.

Jisung and Chenle wouldn't care about anything other than each other, Mark spent too much time flustered in front of Haechan, and Haechan seems didn't mind at all about Jeno and Jaemin and gladly let Renjun solving the problems by himself. As time passed, Mark and Haechan unexpectedly became the perfect addition to the rhythm of the group, making their friendship even more lively.

Renjun even realized that Haechan was his true partner in crime since he was more fun than Jaemin considering that he didn't need to be followed by a group of second-grader girls and boys here and there every time they're planning something. They can spend time arguing fiercely and laughing jokes at one another. Chenle also found his voice in Mark, making Mark his favorite hyung after Jaemin. Even though they didn't say this clearly, everyone knew that Haechan and Mark also adored Jisung to the fullest

In order to see Jaemin even happier, Jeno couldn't help but stop all his grudges against Haechan and Mark and even though they were still awkward with each other, he didn't refuse to look at them, greet them, or laugh with them. He and Haechan talked one time and Jeno let Haechan pour his heart out like he did to Mark. He let Haechan apologize and decided to release all grudges against the boy even though they wouldn't be able to go back like before. Haechan was very grateful for this, saying he was quite happy that Jeno didn't mind his existence.

Now the seven of them are sitting by the lake. Enjoying the sunshine and cold wind that made their bodies shudder. But no one cares. Jisung and Chenle sat together talking about the mermaids under the lake. Renjun leaned over on his beach towel, reading. Jaemin lay down on top of Jeno's coat while Jeno was hovering on top of him. They whispered to each other in low voices while stealing kisses. At this stage, no one bothered to separate them or make fun of their closeness. Jeno and Jaemin are closer than ever and are all happy that they still love each other. But of course Renjun had enough.

"I know you guys love each other but seriously, get a room!" Renjun shouts in disbelief.

"Jelly." Jaemin stuck out his tongue.

Just as Renjun was about to answer, a call came from the castle.

“Mark Lee!"

They all turned their heads to find a tall boy who actually looked like a cheerful puppy dashing towards them. His broad smile was dazzling and his hand was holding a parchment.

“LOOK LOOK! LOOK WHAT I'VE GOT!" Lucas almost jumped up and down around Mark.

“Lucas-hyung! What is it?" Jaemin asked without bothering to get up from his position.

Lucas took a quick breath. “A letter from the Ministry. We did it, Mark! We did it!"

In order to hear that, Mark immediately got up and read the parchment in Lucas's hand.

“Ooooh! Congratulation! Both of you!” exclaimed Jaemin. This time he sat down, followed by Jeno who was slightly frowning.

"Thank you, Jamie."

"Finally!" Haechan shrieked and hugged Mark. Mark's face turned red but he tried to focus on reading the parchment in his hand. Everyone there could see how Mark was about to explode when Haechan gave Mark a kiss on the cheek.

Lucas laughed out loud at the sight and gave Mark a hug, happy that their weeks of hard work had finally paid off. After they let go of their hugs, Lucas told them, “they offers us an internship. The Ministry of Magic!"

Chenle and Jisung applauded, making the atmosphere that was originally calm lively. Renjun followed lazily but smiled bright.

"Lets celebrate!" Jaemin raised his hand.

Jeno looked at him doubtfully. "That's the mean you want me to sneak us into the kitchen, right, baby?"

Jaemin nodded and dropped into Jeno's arms. “Lets do that! And invite Xiaojun and Hendery, too. Its gonna be fun!"

Chenle and Renjun looked at Jeno expectantly, always happy to be with Xiaojun and Hendery who both came from China.

“Alright alright. Lets do that tonight, okay? The house elf must be preparing dinner right now."

Everyone cheered happily at Jeno's words. Jeno could only smile and hug Jaemin back.

"Come on, hyung. Join us!" Chenle waved his hand at Lucas.

So Lucas sat down, naturally leaning closer to Renjun's side because the smaller man looked extraordinarily attractive today with the glasses on the tip of his nose and the wind stroking his hair, and because there was no way he could disturb the other _couples_. He spoke to Renjun in a calmer voice knowing that he was easily disturbed by the noise.

Even Haechan and Mark who sat leaning against the tree trunk seemed to always have a world of their own. Jaemin doesn't blame this considering that Mark is always there in Haechan's darkest days. Jaemin smiled at Mark's familiar look; so adored and fascinated. He looked so happy to see Haechan telling something with his hands, his blonde hair glistening in the sun and his glasses perched in Haechan's pocket because he was always careless.

"What is it, baby?" Jeno asked when Jaemin looked at the couple under a tree not far from them for too long.

Jaemin smiled and shook his head. He lay back and Jeno happily hovering on top of him. Jaemin looked back at his dazzling lover as usual. Jeno's hair is now dark while Jaemin is back blonde. He could feel Jeno's hand stroking his side and he lifted his face slightly to kiss Jeno's nose.

“Tell me, love,” Jaemin whispered, pulling Jeno's shirt collar. “Don't you think this is the time we should talking about… our future? After graduation."

Jeno's smile widened and he kissed Jaemin's lips slowly. "Gladly, baby."

_end_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally posted it all! Can you spare me what you think about this? :3 and should I make another or adding epilogue (because I've been planning on writes about Veela-marriage or something but I can't promise you though >,<)? Thank you for sticking with this until its finished. I'm sorry if I disappoint you. I hope you could see me in my other works.
> 
> Have a good day for you!

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Thank you for reading :3 and welcome to my another works. I hope you guys enjoying this because its gonna be such a (kinda-long) ride ^^ Truthfully I haven't actually finished this soooo >,<
> 
> English is not my first language so please spare me some mistake and leave some encouragement! Thank you! :3
> 
> Please remember that I LOVE the Dreamies! <3


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